


The 10 in Ben

by Shadymissionary



Category: Ben 10 Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-20
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-08-23 12:15:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 24,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8327476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadymissionary/pseuds/Shadymissionary
Summary: A week after Ben's mother is attacked, Gwen notices that Ben is and isn't acting like himself. At first she thinks that Ben is just having trouble dealing with what happened, but the truth is even stranger than she could imagine.





	1. Fourarms

_How many heroes does it take to protect an innocent?_

Masha looked up at her cat with wide, terrified eyes. Midnight had somehow got herself onto the top branch of the city's tallest tree, and now she wouldn't come down. This was really, really bad! She had to get Midnight down before something bad happened!

She called out for help, but there was almost nobody in the park. And her daddy had picked NOW of all times to go to the bathroom! There was this one boy she thought had heard her, but he'd just run off. She couldn't leave her cat to look for help, either. What if a dog came around? Or a bat? Or a catnapper? Or an alien?

"Hello there!" A cheerful, booming voice made itself known. Marsha whirled around, and found herself looking up at a red alien with four gigantic arms and a big smile.

She immediately brightened up. "Handy Buddy!"

'Handy Buddy' blinked, and then simply rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Not exactly, miss. Now what seems to be the trouble?"

Masha didn't know why Handy Buddy didn't have that funny accent, but then she remembered that there were more important things to worry about than a hero's voice. "Midnight! My kitty's stuck up there! I have to get him down!"

Fourarms nodded. "Not a problem, miss! I'll just get her down..." He remarked, stretching up his arm to where Midnight was perched. He got a good scratch for his effort.

"You don't understand." Masha explained when Fourarms retracted his arm. "She only listens to me. But I can't get her to come down, she's scared of heights, and I can't reach her!"

Fourarms rubbed his hand gently before nodding. "Alright then..." He set one of his other hands on the ground in front of Masha. "Hop on. Don't worry, I won't drop ya."

Masha hesitated for a second, but then stepped onto the big red hand. Although she felt a bit unsteady when Fourarms lifted her up, she stayed on her feet and soon found herself right up with Midnight. The black cat looked at her mistress with some confusion before jumping into her waiting arms.

Masha hugged her black cat tightly. "Thank you sooooo much, Handy Buddy!" She squealed once Fourarms set her on the ground before running off to find her daddy.

Fourarms just chuckled. "Heh. Not a problem, miss. Always glad to help." His smile had never left his face.

\-----------------------------------

Gwen walked up to the school entrance, a bit apprehensive about meeting Ben here. She wasn't sure what she'd say, what she'd do when she saw him again. She usually had a plan to deal with situations like this, but now? There was no way they could trade their usual banter after what had happened. Or was that Ben needed right now, some return to normalcy? Or did Ben even realize how serious this was? Her father had tried to push her out of this mess, maybe his did too?

The bell rang, snapping her out of her thoughts. She had to get to class. With that goal in mind, she pushed herself through the doors and almost ran into a group of boys hanging out near the entrance. She stopped in her tracks when she saw her cousin.

Ben and two of his school friends, neither if whom Gwen knew, were in the middle of a conversation. "...must've been a real nasty virus if it made you skip school for a week."

"The worst!" Ben replied, a casual smile on his face. "Sure glad it's over. Never thought I'd say this, but it's good to be back here!"

Gwen just stared. Ben was laughing, joking, acting like this was just another day. Like nothing had happened. Should he be acting like this? Or was something else going on that she wasn't seeing?

The three boys laughed. "Ok man, who are you, and what have you done to Ben Tennyson?"

An odd look passed over Ben's face, but it was gone so quickly Gwen wondered if she hadn't imagined it. The smile on his face just got bigger. "Ha ha ha...oh, I'm an alien shapeshifter who locked Ben in his room while I infiltrate his school and take over the gym team!" He proclaimed while gesturing dramatically. Everybody laughed at that except Gwen.

The other boys suddenly remembered that they still had classes, and quickly said their 'see ya laters' before rushing off. Ben started walking to his class as well. He looked up to see that Gwen had joined him, a very strange expression on her face.

"Hey Gwen!" He greeted with a wave. His smile had never left his face. "How's it going?"

Gwen blinked, not sure how to respond. "Umm...okay. It's going okay...Ben, are you alright?" she asked with some concern.

Now it was Ben's turn to look confused, as if Gwen had just asked a really dumb question. "Uh...yeah. Why?"

"I dunno, it's just...after what happened to your mom, I-I guess I figured-"

Ben stopped in his tracks, his smile vanishing. His hand gently massaged his forehead like he'd suddenly got a headache. He looked her right in the eye, his expression completely different from a minute ago. His eyes were solemn, and his mouth set. "I don't want to talk about it right now." He stated coldly before running off.

Gwen was left standing in the hallway, confused and troubled. Of all the ways she'd expected Ben to act, this wasn't one of them...or was it? Maybe this was normal…or just okay. Everyone deals with...something like this differently. Ben was probably just trying too hard to keep up his positive outlook. Ignore the worst of it while he could. Maybe she was just overthinking it…she'd only seen him for a minute, after all.

But there was something else…something she just couldn't put her finger on. What was it?

The second bell rang, telling Gwen that she was running late.

She shook her head clear and started running down the hall. Gwen decided that she'd keep a close eye on her cousin that day, since they shared a lot of their classes. Maybe she could figure out what was up with Ben and why this weird feeling about her cousin wouldn't go away...


	2. XLR8

One of the most infamous roads of Bellwood was the connection to the highway. The road was so wide, straight and long that it was far too easy for speeding cars to barrel through. Teenage delinquents, speed freaks, drag racers and escaping crooks exploited the road to the point where it was given the moniker ‘Getaway lane’. The police posted extra men and resources on the road to try and stop speeders, but that was only so effective. Especially against the growing number of cars supercharged with alien technology.

Like the one that was blasting through the police checkpoints while the patrol cars lagged behind pathetically. 

A woman in a ski mask looked in the rear view mirror. Flashing red and blue lights danced in the distance, desperately trying to catch up to her. In the backseat of the car, a satchel filled with diamond necklaces and earrings, withdrawn from the local jewelers. The entire car rumbled with the power of…whatever the hell it was the mechanic added to the car to make it faster.

The police cars fell further and further away, and the robber let herself laugh.  They’d never catch up to her! Good thing her friend talked her into listening to that crazy mechanic. With this pimped-out ride, there wasn’t a cop car in the state that could keep up. Now, all she had to do was keep pressing forward until she finally outran these pigs and could get to her safehouse…

_Tap tap tap_

The woman whirled around to face the sound. Casually tapping on the passenger window was a blue velociraptor with a smirk on it’s face. “Hey, slowpoke. Wanna race?” XLR8 taunted. 

The robber immediately grabbed her pistol and fired several rounds through the window. The bullets pierced the glass, but XLR8 easily dodged them by running forward and then leaning back.

“Missed me! Missed me again! Geez, you got lousy aim.” The alien laughed, reclining his head into his claws while still keeping pace with the car. 

“SHUT UP!” the thief shot her pistol at the alien again before slamming her foot down on the pedal. The car went even faster, and the police lights vanished over the horizon. But when the robber looked forward, the blue alien was right in front of her car, running backwards with his arms crossed.

“This is too easy…” he muttered just loud enough for the driver to hear him. 

The robber fired through her windshield, but XLR8 evaded the bullets with casual ease. The woman was getting very frustrated now. No matter what she tried to do, the blue alien just weaved around the bullets as if they were moving in slow motion. And that goddamn smirk on it’s face…the thing was taunting her, like she was some kind of joke! She was NOT a joke!

Her finger squeezed the trigger, and the rest of her clip was emptied through the windshield. The glass shattered, but luckily the shards weren’t sharp enough to cut her. A lucky break, all things considered. And it looked like her luck was holding out…the alien was gone! Now there was nothing that could get in her way…

“What were you shooting at?”

Right beside her, just outside the driver’s window, was XLR8. The robber quickly tried to reload, but suddenly the door was ripped open and XLR8’s claws grabbed the pistol from her hand. 

And then…it was a blur.

By the time the robber could get her bearings, she was tied to a signpost with seatbelts binding her arms and legs. Her car sped off into the distance before suddenly turning around and coming to a halt right next to her. The door opened and XLR8 stepped out, brushing his claws and dangling the ignition keys. 

“Sweet ride, if you like to take things slow.” The alien laughed. “Then again, I really shouldn’t judge. NOTHING is as fast as me around here. Kinda depressing, really. Oh well. Maybe the air force can keep up with me.”

XLR8 vanished into the distance as the flashing red and blue lights reappeared and started closing in. All the robber could do was rant and rave impotently to the heavens.

\-------------------------

It was a beautiful sunny day, so Bellwood school decided to hold their gym class outdoors on the soccer field. It was a classic game of boys vs. girls, and the boys were in the lead, much to the girls’ chagrin. 

Gwen had the ball, and was guiding it to the goal. Normally, she was a very good soccer player, but right now she was so distracted that she didn’t notice Ben until he intercepted her and stole the ball.

Ben snorted as he ran from Gwen. “Come ON, give me a challenge here!” he laughed, dribbling towards the goal on the other end of the field. Several of the girls tried to steal the ball back, but Ben dodged them all. He sidestepped, maneuvered, and simply outran all his opponents without even trying. 

“This is too easy…” he muttered just loud enough for them to hear him. With a confident smirk, he gave the ball a solid kick right into the goal. The strike was so fast, the goalie didn’t have time to block it.

“And that’s four points for the boys!” The fat gym teacher cheerfully announced. “Well done, Ben! I haven’t seen you perform this well all year.”

Ben didn’t respond for a second.  “Hm? Oh yeah. You really shouldn’t be surprised, teach. NOTHING is as fast as me around here.” 

“Oh really?” several of the boys challenged, even as they gave Ben high-fives and pats on the back.

One of the girls came up to Gwen. “That was a dumb move, Gwen.” She growled. “If we’re gonna beat the boys, you need to get your head in the game!”

Gwen rubbed the back of her head. “I’m…sorry.” That didn’t seem to satisfy the other girl, but at least she left Gwen alone with her thoughts.

Gwen looked at her cousin. She had been watching him all morning, and she hadn’t noticed anything unusual about Ben. Which was unusual in itself…how could Ben, of all people, take this so lightly? When Grandpa got hurt, Ben got real moody and tried to run away. And that wasn’t nearly as bad as this was! Why would he be smiling, laughing, and just acting like this right after his Mom got hurt so bad?

Then again, it hadn’t taken much to convince Ben to come back, and he was back to his normal self in a few days. Maybe Gwen was overreacting. Maybe Ben had already been given the talk he needed with Carl or Grandpa Max. Just because she hadn’t spoken with him in a week didn’t mean he wasn’t okay. 

Of course she tried to talk with him after she found out what happened. But Ben wasn’t at school, he never answered the phone, and he was always either ‘out’ or locked in his room when she came over. Her mom and dad told her that he probably needed time to himself, and that she shouldn’t worry. She never heard his voice until just yesterday, when he left a message saying he was okay and that he’d see her at school. That’s it.

Ben was kicking a soccer ball into the air to show off. Was he alright, or did he just look alright? Maybe she could ask Ben right now…but that would bring it up in front of everybody…and Ben would want to keep this a secret…and these walls had ears…

Gwen sighed with exasperation. She should’ve realized she couldn’t talk to Ben about this at school. So when could she talk about it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, gonna establish a rule. 1 comment that gives me a good idea what you think of the story so far (don't just print 'Cool story bro, etc' before the next chapter.


	3. Cannonbolt

Normally, Bellwood docks were a fairly quiet place, not loud with sounds of screaming. Normally, the worst thing that happened to the grey and brown buildings was a paint job by the local taggers, not being reduced to broken splinters and burnt slag. Normally, the workers would stay at their posts and chat with their friends, not flee the scene as fast as their legs could carry them.

Normally, the docks weren’t being attacked by Computron and his minions from Dimension 12. 

The colossal top-like robot watched as his minions tore the warehouses apart. Shattered glass and splintered wood flew around the area like snow in a blizzard, repelling the Bellwood police from entering the area. Not that the red machine’s huge glowing claws weren’t discouraging them from engaging Computron.

 **“Inferior lifeforms.”** the machine emotionlessly intoned. **”You serve no function to Computron. You have no use, as servants or entertainment. My form requires no service, and I am above the petty concept of entertainment.”** The metal tyrant looked down at the police officers, his red eye glowing with power. **”You are no more than an interference. You must be purged so that my machines can – “**

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, humanity must die, you’re perfect, blah blah blah.” A sleepy voice interrupted him. “Heard it all before.”

Computron’s attention was diverted from the officers. With a silent command, the blue servants of Computron ceased their attacks and searched for that insulting , contemptuous voice. **“What pathetic life form dares to interrupt Computron?”**

The life form didn’t bother to answer Computron’s question. Instead, it decided that actions spoke louder than words. From out of nowhere, a big yellow ball smashed into one of the blue robots. The force of the impact created a huge hole in the machine, and the robot collapsed to the ground. 

Before Computron or any of his other machines could respond, the destructive orb was already spinning around, knocking the other blue machines off their balance and crushing them to pieces with sheer momentum.

Computron finally regained it’s bearings and tried to destroy the rolling ball. One of the blue robots leaned forward to try and grab this new threat, but it spun around and used the robot’s moment of imbalance to send it toppling to the ground. Bouncing off the crashed machine like an action hero leapt off a defeated foe, the spinning ball of destruction crashed into another blue robot and destroyed it with one hit. Computron started firing it’s deadly laser at the destructor, but it outmaneuvered the laser and, in fact, caused Computron’s own weapon to wipe out most of it’s own servants. One of the officers present wished he brought popcorn.   
For the police, the whole scene was tense and exciting, like an action movie with close calls and sudden turnarounds. 

For Cannonbolt…not so much.

Within the confines of his shell, Cannonbolt yawned. The alien was, quite honestly, bored. He wasn’t in any danger from these toy line robots. If Cannonbolt could survive being eaten by ‘The Great One’ and re-entry from orbit, he could survive whatever these dumb looking machines threw at him. And it was so easy for him to demolish them. One solid hit and these things toppled. And Computron, the so-called ‘superior life form’, had such laughably lousy aim that it was a wonder he conquered Dimension 12, or whatever it was.

With the majority of his forces destroyed, Computron took proper aim at Cannonbolt and managed to score a direct hit. But just as Cannonbolt had predicted, the blast didn’t penetrate his armor. It simply knocked him back several metres. The alien continued rolling, using the attack as a speed boost. Once it had enough room, Cannonbolt turned around and charged straight for Computron.

 **“Cease and desist, inferior life form.”** Computron ordered to the unimpressed Cannonbolt. The machine tried charging up it’s energy for another beam attack. **”You will not destroy Computron –“**

Cannonbolt suddenly bounced up and hit Computron dead center. Time moved in slow motion as the robot was ripped off it’s mobility wheel, and was carried upwards by the yellow wrecking ball. The machine’s body fell to the ground, breaking into scattered pieces of steel and wires. **”NnNn…nOt PoSsIbLe** …SuPeRiOr…” Computron sputtered before the light went out of it’s eye.

“What wassat? Didn’t hear you.” Cannonbolt muttered before rolling off. “Ah, whatever.”

\--------------------------

 _“Stop right there, evildoers!”_ The not-Diamondhead on the screen cried out. _“You shall not escape justice!”_

Gwen sniggered at that. Ben may be a big fan of super heroes, not to mention an even bigger dweeb, but even he would never say something so unbelievably corny. She had to admit, the voice came very, very close to Diamondhead’s, but she could just tell that it was an actor pretending to be him.

Social Studies class was doing a topic on modern day heroes, and today they were showing a ‘documentary’ on the alien heroes. Although there was some footage of the actual aliens, it was interspersed with this really laughable attempt at special effects and stuntmen in frankly hilarious costumes. She hadn’t seen a Fourarms costume like that since…wait…that’s EXACTLY what the Handy Buddy mascot was wearing at the movie studio! Gwen turned to her cousin, wanting to see his reaction.

In what was becoming a growing list of strangeness, Ben’s reaction wasn’t anything like Gwen was expecting. He should’ve been smiling at the bad effects, laughing at the dialogue, or even fondly looking down at his watch and remembering the good times. 

He shouldn’t have been leaning on his hands, staring with half-lidden eyes at the screen, looking like he was about to fall asleep out of sheer boredom. 

That strange feeling returned to Gwen’s gut. This just kept getting stranger and stranger. Maybe now it was time to act. “Ben?” she whispered.

Ben didn’t respond, letting out a slight yawn.

“Ben?” she whispered a bit more forcefully, hoping that the footage of a crudely painted animatronic pretending to be Upgrade beating the bank robbers would cover up her voice. He still didn’t hear her.

“Ben!” she hissed, finally just elbowing him in the shoulder.

He finally seemed to notice. “Whuh-what? Oh, yeah. What’s up?” he talked in a very uninterested tone.

Despite that ‘off’ feeling she was getting again, Gwen decided to act as casually as possible. “Did you see that Fourarms costume? Looks like Handy Buddy got a new job.” She joked.

“Oh, yeah, him. Weird.” He mumbled for a moment.

Gwen didn’t bother to hide her strange look at Ben. “I thought you’d be more interested than this, Ben. They’re recapping your best moments.”

“Yeah, well…” Ben rubbed his eyes open. “That’s the thing. I saw it all before. Been there, done that, you know? Hard to be excited about something you already know the ending to.”

Gwen looked up at the screen. A stuntwoman who was way too old for the part was dressed up as Lucky Girl, and was firing greenscreen effects at someone pretending to be Hex. And then it was clumsily edited to fit with the actual security footage of the fight. She had to admit he saw his point…seeing it on a tv screen couldn’t really compare to experiencing it firsthand.

But since when did Ben get bored with heroics? Something was seriously up, and Gwen couldn’t pretend that it wasn’t. But she couldn’t talk about it here…

“Hey Ben…” she whispered, making sure Ben heard her this time. “Can I come over for dinner tonight?”

“Hmm? Sure.” Ben replied, eyes still on the screen.

Gwen blinked. Ben NEVER would just say yes to that. “Okaaay…so could you call your parents and tell them?”

“Mmf.” Ben made a noise, but Gwen had no idea if it was an affirmative or a negative noise. 

She sighed. “Never mind, _I’ll_ call them, doofus.”

Ben continued staring blankly at the screen, not bothering with a comeback. 

Gwen shook her head. Confusion, irritation and concern battled out in her mind. What was wrong? What was this weird feeling she was having? Satisfied that she’ll be able to get answers tonight, she turned her attention back to the tv screen. Hopefully watching these actors pretend to be her and her cousin would calm her down, get rid of this odd feeling she felt when she talked to Ben.

It didn’t.


	4. Upgrade

The key to success was efficiency and focus. You had to know exactly what to do, how to do it, when to do it, and not get distracted by _anything._

The Face Cards knew this. The two men and a woman, King, Jack and Queen, were professionals. They had been pulling heists all over the country off for years, and they knew how to pull off a bank robbery. They cased the target for months before making a move.

Everything had gone perfectly. All three of them walked into the bank and took up their positions, looking as inconspicuous as possible while keeping their faces hidden from the cameras. With expert eyes, they roved the crowd for any plainclothes cops or potential threats to the operation. Nothing. Some little kid who was listening to music gave Jack an odd look, but he shrugged it off and left the building. Once they were in position, they whipped out their guns and started firing. 

Within minutes, the guard was down, their playing card masks were on and all three were armed. They ordered the rest of the customers to get down on the ground while threatening the cashiers to fill their bags with money. Shooting one of the guards showed that they meant business, but it would also trigger a response. Queen was keeping track of the time with her watch. They had three minutes to get their money and get out of here. They wouldn’t waste a second. 

Neither would Upgrade. 

The Face Cards were careful to keep their eyes all around them, but none of them looked up. If they did, they would’ve noticed the ceiling suddenly turned black and green, and the overhead sprinklers suddenly gaining camera sights.

Upgrade observed the situation carefully. Three targets, all armed, and a bank full of hostages. It couldn’t afford any mistakes. But an opportunity presented itself. The guns that the Face Cards weren’t typical pistols, but alien energy weapons bought off the black market. They were non-magnetized, impossible to detect with conventional metal detectors. Portable, deadly, and almost untraceable. The perfect gun for most criminals.

But they had a major flaw. A flaw that, admittedly, the police didn’t know about. But the Plumber database had information about these weapons. And a Galvanic Mechamorph armed with nothing but an automated sprinkler system could disarm them with a little ingenuity. 

The robbers were moving around to be safe, but the second they stood still for long enough, Upgrade activated the sprinklers right above them…with a little something extra.

“What the hell?!” the Queen shouted as the water cascaded down on her. Not only was it suddenly sprinkling, but the water was sparking was some kind of green electricity. Her head shot up to see the green and black patterned ceiling. She recognized that pattern from the newsfeeds. 

Without hesitation, she and her two partners aimed their weapons and fired on the alien. Or at least, they tried to. Their guns, sparking with the green electricity the water was charged with, sputtered worthlessly before becoming too hot for them to contain. 

King and Jack glanced at each other. This wasn’t supposed to happen.  They had to get out of there, and fast. Throwing their weapons to the ground, they split up and ran for the exits as fast as they possibly could. 

Upgrade dropped down and swiftly swallowed one of the guns. The weapon suddenly grew legs and stood up, aiming straight at one of the retreating robbers. The shot that fired wasn’t lethal, but the electrical charge was enough to paralyze Jack. He hadn’t hit the ground before Upgrade turned around shot King in the back as well. 

Queen was the fastest of the three, and she managed to get out of the bank. Upgrade jumped off the gun (but not before removing the energy ammunition it contained) and slithered out the door behind her. Before Queen could get to her getaway car, Upgrade blasted her with his energy beam, knocking her off her feet.

Without a word, Upgrade grabbed Queen by her legs and started dragging the unconscious robber back into the building. As quickly and as efficiently as it could, it tied the Face Cards together with long strips of metal taken from the banisters. The alien could probably create some effective handcuffs or restraints, but the problem was that they would dissolve once Upgrade left. The police would be here soon, and he couldn’t take any chances.

One of the bank employees had been evacuating the civilians out of the building. Upgrade hadn’t noticed her, having been so focused on the Face Cards. Once the last person was out of the building, she turned around and walked towards the alien. “Th-th-thank you…”

Upgrade didn’t notice her, or if it did, it didn’t acknowledge her. It simply finished tying up the robbers and slithered out the doors as quickly as possible, leaving behind three defeated bank robbers and a confused employee. 

\------------------------------

Gwen took her cell phone and shoved it into her backpack. _Ok, last class of the day_ , she thought to herself. _Once we’re done here, we’ll head to Ben’s house and then we can talk and I can get some answers._

Somewhat satisfied with that in mind, Gwen zipped up her knapsack and moved it to the back of the room. For some reason, the teacher for typing class didn’t like the students bringing their stuff to the computers. Gwen supposed he didn’t want crumbs on the keyboards or phones being used to cheat. At any rate, the rules were to leave your backpacks at the back of the room.

Gwen was about to drop her backpack off with the others when something caught her eye. It was Ben’s backpack, left half open on the ground. One of the books was visible, a thick textbook that wasn’t assigned reading for any of their classes. Curiously, Gwen leaned down and investigated.

_Psychology 101._ Ben must’ve gotten it from the library. But why would he be reading this? Ben didn’t like reading anything more sophisticated than a comic book. Another thing to ask him about.

Gwen made a point of sitting right beside her cousin. Ben had already opened the typing game that everyone had to play for the lesson. She opened the game as well, and began to type. It was a couple minutes before Gwen glanced over at her normally sluggish and lazy cousin.

His eyes were completely fixated on the screen, and his hands were a blur on the keyboard. Gwen would’ve thought that Ben was rushing through the tutorial, but judging by the fanfare on the screen, he was getting a perfect score on the game. And was it just Gwen, or was Ben not even _blinking?_

A winter’s worth of ice slid down Gwen’s back. In a desperate attempt to get rid of her nervousness, Gwen tried to start a conversation. 

“So, I called Carl. He’s all right with me coming over. He said that Grandpa was gonna come over tonight too. Let’s just hope he doesn’t cook us Dung Beetle soup, huh?”

Ben didn’t answer. 

Gwen swallowed. “Erm…anyway, I saw that psychology textbook in your backpack. Didn’t know you were into psychology, Ben. This a new thing?”

Still no response. He just kept typing and staring at the screen. Did he hear her? Was he ignoring her? Was he THAT focused on the typing tutor?

Irritation overcoming her initial fright, Gwen waved her hand right in front of Ben’s face. “Hello? Ben?”

Ben swat her hand away without breaking his gaze from the computer screen. He didn’t even acknowledge his cousin’s presence or voice.

Gwen’s teeth gritted together, and her fists clenched with rage. She forcibly grabbed Ben’s head and turned his head towards her scowling face. “ **LOOK AT ME WHEN I’M** – “ she started yelling before something caused her throat to dry up completely. 

There was no expression on Ben’s face. His eyes stared forward blankly, his mouth was perfectly straight, everything about his face was devoid of his normal demeanor, or even any demeanor at all. It was like a robot with a human face was looking at her, not registering that the girl was his cousin. Not Ben.

This wasn’t Ben. This wasn’t her cousin. She had no idea who this was, but this wasn’t Ben Tennyson. This wasn’t even the cheerful kid from the school entrance, or the boasting one from gym class, or the sleepy one from social studies. This was…Gwen didn’t even know. 

Shocked and disturbed, Gwen let go of her cousin’s head. ‘Ben’ didn’t even blink, but returned his full attention to the computer screen and keyboard. Gwen sat back in her seat, shivering with fear and confusion as she watched whoever was pretending to be her cousin type on the screen with a mechanical efficiency. 

This was worse than she thought. What the hell was going on?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment please. Kudos are great, but I want to know what my writing is like.


	5. Heatblast

As the arsonist stared at his work, he smiled. He liked to think that his grudge against the warehouse was purely personal, but he had to admit that fire was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. There was something primal and complex, powerful and graceful about the dancing flickers of flame. This was true art.

Those prigs. Two years with no promotions or even a raise, and then they toss him aside like cheap trash! Well, this’ll show them. A liberal application of kerosene and a special made bomb in the middle of the warehouse. Now THAT was a severance package!

Watching the orange and red flames burst out the windows, he felt an odd sense of satisfaction. Realizing that the police would be on their way, he turned to his car to leave…

Only to find that his car had been reduced to a half-beaten, half-melted mess of metal. The windshield was smashed, the engine had been reduced to slag, and the interiors were black with burns.  

His eyes widened. He had heard about this from his the internet…he shouldn’t have taken time to appreciate his work, he should’ve left the scene as fast as possible. He whirled around to see the warehouse.

The flames were vanishing, the plumes shrinking back from the windows as if they were being sucked back into the warehouse. This was definitely the work of one of those aliens he’d heard about in the news. _Aw Hell._ He had to go, and he had to go **now**. 

There was another car nearby, and the arsonist smashed the window open and unlocked the car from the inside. As he hurriedly hotwired the car, he looked up to see what looked like a flaming man carrying two charred warehouse workers outside the warehouse, which had stopped burning. 

Heatblast put the workers down and looked right at the escaping arsonist. The fury in his eyes was indistinguishable from the fiercest flames. 

The firestarter slammed on the gas and prayed that the car was fast enough. The hotwired escape vehicle accelerated through the streets, nearly colliding with several oncoming vehicles.

It wasn’t fast enough. Riding on a plume of flame, Heatblast came right alongside the car. Glaring at the arsonist with a flaming rage that could burn men alive, Heatblast shot fireballs at the cars wheels. The blaze was hot enough to melt the rubber, reducing the tires to puddles and causing the car to scrape to a halt.

Once the car had slowed down enough, Heatblast stepped off the flame he was riding and stormed towards the car window. The attempted arsonist desperately tried to crawl out the other side, but the alien simply smashed through the window and grabbed him by the shirt. The arsonist was torn out of the car to face the enraged fiery creature. The hands tightening on his body burned into his skin.

“YOU SICK, DERANGED COWARD!” the monster roared, every word out of his mouth feeling like a blast from a furnace. “YOU COULD HAVE KILLED SOMEONE! YOU **WOULD** HAVE KILLED TWO INNOCENTS!”

The arsonist babbled desperately, trying to justify himself. “Th-th-th-th-they fired…”

**“SHUT UP!”** Heatblast roared, slamming the arsonist into the car. “THERE IS   **NOTHING** YOU CAN SAY THAT WOULD JUSTIFY THIS!”

The man felt something break, and cried out in pain. Heatblast let go of the firestarter and left him to slump against the car. The man looked up, eyes wide with terror and desperation at the flaming monster. “Please…please don’t kill me…”

Heatblast’s expression became even more furious, taking a step towards the arsonist with his fists tightened. But the something strange happened. His expression went from hateful and enraged to contemptuous and disgusted to eerily stoic, all within the space of a second. Nobody’s face or mood changed _that_ quickly. 

His hand went up to his forehead, massaging it for a second before glancing at the approaching noise. Police sirens. The arsonist was almost relieved to hear them. He didn’t want to think about what would happen if he was alone with Heatblast for too long. 

The alien took one last disgusted look at the terrified criminal before running into the back alleys, leaving the man to be picked up by the police. The alien continued to grasp his head, trying to ward off some strange headache.

\----------------

Between computer class and the arrival at Ben’s house, Gwen had never taken her eyes off of Not-Ben. She never let him out of her sight, not wanting to be caught off guard by…whoever or whatever this was. 

Her first thought was a Limax, but there was something was wrong with that. Limax would’ve put more effort into impersonating her cousin, if for no other reason than to lure Gwen into a trap. And Gwen was pretty sure she’d seen Ben at the water fountain…but maybe that was just a way to ward off suspicion. It wasn’t hard to lean over a fountain without turning it on.  But there was something off about the faker’s performance that a Limax wouldn’t explain. An alien shapeshifter’s performance would at least be…consistent? Was that it? The way Ben had acted, it was like 4 different people- or creatures- were playing as him. Why would Limax do that?

Gwen just couldn’t be certain…and at any rate, exposing this imposter at school would just cause even more problems. She had to wait until they were alone before she could do the ‘Limax test’, as it were. 

Between the class and the bus ride, she was never alone with ‘Ben’. Ben was always talking and joking with his buddies, laughing and smiling like he had when the day started. Less than 10 minutes before, he was so focused and emotionless he wouldn’t respond to her. He often invited her to join the conversation, but she always declined. 

“You Ok, Gwen?” Ben had asked, concerned. “You’ve been acting really weird lately.”

_YOU’RE telling ME that?_ Gwen thought, but she stopped herself from saying it out loud.

Finally, they were at Ben’s house. The Rust Bucket was just outside, so Grandpa was here. Good. Gwen could really use someone to talk to, regardless of what would happen next. Shaking her head clear, she followed Ben inside.

Grandpa Max was in the living room, watching something on his laptop. He looked up and smiled wanly when he saw the two enter. “Hey kids.” He waved. “How was school?”

Gwen had to remind herself that the mood was still subdued after the attack. “Just fine, Grandpa.” She answered before going to the kitchen. 

Ben just smiled and nodded. “It was great, grandpa! I beat the girls at soccer today. 4-2!” he smugly replied.

Max chuckled. “That’s pretty impressive.”

Gwen poured herself a glass of water. 

Max’s expression became a lot more serious. “Listen, Ben. Your mother needs to talk to the police tonight, so I’m going to be cooking.” He said solemnly.

Ben’s smile vanished. “Mom? Didn’t they talk to her already? Wh-why do they need to talk to her now?”

“They just need to clarify some things for the trial – “

“What could they possibly need to talk to her about?! Didn’t they find out enough the LAST time they talked to her?! The time she locked herself in her room sobbing all night long once they were done?!?!” Ben snarled, his eyes wide.

Gwen casually walked out of the kitchen, water glass in hand. When she saw Ben’s expression, she took a step back in shock. His teeth were grinding, his fists were clenched, and there was this rage in his eye that could burn anyone alive. He looked ready to _murder_ someone.

Even Max was scared. “Ben, calm down…” he tried to placate his grandson to no avail.

“She’s gotten better, and now they’re gonna drag it all up AGAIN?! Those **worthless idiots who couldn’t protect her in the first place?!** ” Ben clutched his hair, nearly tearing it out with rage. “Can’t they lock those thugs up and be DONE with it?! Leave HER out of it?! What the **hell** does –“

Gwen then tripped, spilling the glass of water all over Ben. She looked up see a very intact, very unfrightened, very non-Limax and very furious Ben Tennyson.

“What. Was. THAT. For?” Ben growled, quivering with rage. 

Gwen gulped. _Well, so much for that theory. Nice going, Gwen._ “I just…tripped…”

“You’re LYING!” Ben roared. “You did that on purpose! You think this is a **JOKE?** Huh?!” He took several menacing steps forward, and Gwen silently prepared a spell to protect herself. 

“BEN!”

Grandpa Max’s shout stopped Ben in his tracks. The still-angry child turned to face his grandfather. Max had his arms crossed, an authoritative frown on his face that quelled his grandson’s fury with just how powerful it was. Even Gwen was intimidated.

“This isn’t acceptable, Ben. This entire thing has been hard on all of us, but that is no excuse for taking it out on Gwen!” he reproached forcefully.

Ben continued to glare for a second, but then his expression calmed down in the blink of an eye. His hand went up to his head, massaging it like he was getting a sudden headache. Without looking up or uttering a word, he walked off to his room and shut the door behind him.

Gwen turned to look at Max. Now that Ben was gone, Grandpa’s expression became confused. “You DID do that on purpose. Gwen, what’s going on?” he asked, concerned.

Gwen glanced at the door Ben had vanished behind. It was far enough away so that Ben wouldn’t hear her. Good. 

Taking a deep breath, she started recounting her day at school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a detailed comment.


	6. Ripjaws

Occasional attacks from Dimension 12 notwithstanding, the Bellwood harbor was a very peaceful place. Almost too peaceful. Nothing seemed to happen, at least on the water. It was a quiet place, removed from the bustle of the city and the crowds. A good place to think, if you could get out on the water.

Maybe that was why Ripjaws had taken the night off to go swimming in the water. Well, ‘swimming’ wasn’t the right word. More like ‘sitting at the bottom of the lake and watching the fish swim by’. 

Ripjaws sighed. It wasn’t like the fish alien could go anywhere else or do anything else. This was the only place in Bellwood he could actually survive for long. There just wasn’t enough large bodies of water in the city. Outside the harbor, Ripjaws was basically useless. Worthless.

Ripjaws shooed away an over-curious fish. Worthless. Boy, that word was being thrown around a lot. And Ripjaws definitely felt worthless. There was no water-based crime in Bellwood for him to fight, and there was nothing for him to do as a result. Just sit and think. And there was a lot to think about. 

Worthlessness. That was something he understood. Maybe _he_ could talk to him…

A shadow passed over Ripjaws. He looked up to see the underside of a large boat stopping overhead. Ripjaw’s brow furrowed in confusion. Why would one of the cargo ships that frequented the harbor just stop in the middle of the water? It didn’t make any sense...unless something was very wrong…

Ripjaws quickly got up and swam to the surface. This was something that warranted investigation. This was something he could actually look into. Maybe he could be useful after all…

The alien’s crocodilian head broke the surface to the sound of shocked screams.

Once the water was clear of his eyes, Ripjaws got a good look at the situation. The ship was some kind of private yacht, and several teenagers in various stages of shock were staring at him with wide eyes. A few of them turned video cameras in his direction.

Ripjaws suddenly felt very foolish, a strange red coloration coming over his scales. He’d underestimated how far they were from the harbor proper…there was nothing stopping a private boat owner from going past at the right distance. This gang of teenagers must’ve been cruising by, maybe taking in the view of the city at night. And then he’d shown up and scared them.

“Er…I’m s-sorry…” Ripjaws sheepishly apologized, averting his eyes. “I just…um…er…aheheh…well…I g-guess I…er…gottago!” the alien ducked back under the water.

 _Worthless. Useless._ Ripjaws chided to himself. _Maybe I AM the one to talk to him._

\--------------

Ben’s door creaked open, getting Gwen and Max’s attention. They both looked up to see a shamefaced Ben slowly shuffle out, keeping his head down as he came up to them. He wouldn’t look up even when he was right in front of them.

There was an awkward pause before Ben finally spoke. “Er…I’m s-sorry…I’m sorry h-” when he looked up, his eyes were moist with the promise of tears.

Gwen raised her eyebrow in response.

Ben reluctantly looked Gwen in the eyes, continuing. “I’m s-sorry…um… _I_ …yelled at you…”

Gwen took a deep breath and folded her arms. For a minute, she just stared at Ben before sighing. “I’m sorry too, Ben. It’s just…you acted really weird today, and…I guess I got scared that you weren’t…really you…”

Ben winced, biting his lip. He turned away from Gwen for a second. “Y-yeah…I get it…the truth is…er…the truth is…”

Another pause. Gwen and Max blinked in confusion. “…The truth is what?”

Ben rubbed his arm, tapping the Omnitrix on his wrist. “The truth…um…the t-truth is, I have been…well… all over the p-place lately ever s-since…” his eyes clenched shut, squeezing out the tears that had been building up.

Realizing what Ben was referring to, Gwen suddenly felt like an idiot. She placed her hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay, Ben. I get it.” She said soothingly.

Ben tensed up, tears streaming from his eyes. “I just…I’m s-so worthless…I mean…all the people I helped…and I c-couldn’t even keep my mother s-safe…” 

“Ben.” Gwen grabbed her cousin’s other shoulder and looked him right in the eye. “Listen to me. It wasn’t your fault. There was no way you could’ve known what was happening.” She sincerely insisted. 

Max nodded. “Gwen’s right, Ben. You can’t beat yourself up over something you couldn’t control.”

Ben didn’t respond for a second, looking to the side as if he was thinking about it. Then he just pushed himself out of Gwen’s grasp, wiping his eyes clean. “I…I…I-I really wish …I could b-believe that.” He muttered before shuffling away.

Once he was out of earshot, Gwen turned back to her grandfather. Grandpa Max nodded to his retreating grandson before reopening his laptop. “Maybe that’s all it is, Gwen.”

Gwen shook her head. “No, no…I mean, I get that, but it doesn’t match up to everything I saw today.” Gwen glanced over her grandpa’s shoulder at what he was watching. It was video footage of Ben’s exploits, which Grandpa was apparently editing together for some sort of home video. “I mean…it’s wasn’t just him trying to act normal. If it was just that, it would’ve been fine, but…I dunno, it was like he was someone else entirely.”

“You sure?” Max asked.

“Yeah.” Gwen nodded. “It was…every time I talked with him, there was this…I dunno, a disconnect. I didn’t figure out what it was until I watched this documentary in social studies. It was like…like it was actor playing a role, not Ben. Not just one actor, but 4 of them taking turns!”

Max’s expression contorted, but Gwen wasn’t sure if it was due to disbelief or contemplation. “That’s…ridiculous.”

“I’m serious! First he was all Super Happy Buddy, then he was a sports star, then he was bored out of his skull, and then…then he was like some kind of silent robot!” Gwen threw up her hands in frustration. “And now this! Have you EVER seen him blow up like _that_ over spilled water? Or apologize like _that_?”

Max blinked, bringing up a video he had overlooked awhile ago. “Well…he’s at an emotional breaking point, he’s going to have mood swings…” he suggested, although his voice suggested that he doubted that himself.

“Ok, ok, sure. But in computer class, he never said a _single word_ even when I yelled at him. Ben ALWAYS talks! And just now, since when does he _stutter_ when he talks?!”

_“Er…I’m s-sorry…I just…um…er…aheheh…well…I g-guess I…er…gottago!”_

Gwen blinked, turning to look at the screen where the voice had come from. It was a video someone had uploaded to the internet of Ripjaws interrupting a yacht party. Gwen replayed the video to be certain.

_”Er…I’m s-sorry…”_

“That’s…exactly how he sounded, actually.” Gwen mused, now more confused than ever. 

Max stared at the screen intently, his brow furrowing in thought as he opened more news videos. “So…tell me more about how Ben acted today.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos are great, comments are better.


	7. Diamondhead

It was total chaos in the park. Everyone was screaming and running for cover from the alien invaders and their ray guns. Parents and their children ducked behind any flimsy box or tree they could find, but nothing seemed to hide them enough from the monsters flying around the field. No matter where they went or how fast they ran, they couldn’t escape these kidnappers.

They had appeared so suddenly. One minute, it was a peaceful day at the park, with parents flying kites with their children, friends playing football with each other, kids running around with their siblings. The next minute, a gigantic spaceship appeared out of nowhere, hovering in the sky like a cloud promising a thunderstorm. 

Seven dinosaur-like aliens came out of the spaceship – a red Tyrannosaurus, a warthog-like Anklosaurus, a red Hadrosaurus, a purple Brachiosaurus, a Styracosaurus, an orange pterodactyl and a pink Plesiosaurus. All of them were wearing what looked like space armor, and except for the flying pterodactyl they were all flying on large metal platforms. The ship also deposited a giant metal cage onto the ground. The Tyrannosaurus, apparently the leader, barked out orders to the others and they immediately began shooting.

The ray guns paralyzed whoever and whatever they hit, allowing the pterodactyl to grab them and drop them into the cage. Once it sunk in that the aliens were kidnapping people, everyone screamed and tried to run away. But the dinosaurs kept outrunning them and shoving them into the cage. The six kidnappers flew around the area and surrounded everyone, keeping them pinned in and easy targets for the pterodactyl. 

Several police officers rolled up to the scene, one of them pulling a gun and trying to shoot the Brachiosaurus alien. He managed to hit the alien in the arm and draw some blood, but it only served to enrage the creature. The dinosaur grabbed another gun, a much larger device than the paralyzing ray it had been using before. Pointing it right at the officer, the Brachiosaurus alien blasted a beam of deadly energy right at the officer’s head. The policeman winced, clamping his eyes shut and preparing for the end…

Only for the beam to ricochet into the sky harmlessly. The officer looked up to see that a wall of green rock had materialized out of thin air to protect him from the blast. 

The Brachiosaurus’ eyes went wide, and he spun around to find whatever had created that wall. Suddenly, a sharp projectile sliced into his gun and pierced the energy container on the weapon. He didn’t have time to toss the weapon before it exploded in his face, knocking him off balance. 

The leader saw this and yelled out. “Brachio? What are you doing, you idiot?!”

While he was distracted by the incident with Brachio that he didn’t notice a huge diamondlike alien jump up and smash it’s fist into the Hadrosaur’s beak. The dinosaur alien fell to the ground, unconscious. 

The Pterodactyl alien saw this and yelled out. “Rex! It’s a Petrosapien!” 

Diamondhead glanced up at the flying dinosaur headed towards him. The pterodactyl wasn’t armed, so it would try to tackle or grab him. He tightened his fist and waited for the precise moment before slamming his rock-hard hand into the dinosaur’s beak. The flying lizard spun out of control and slammed into a tree, slumping to the ground.

Diamondhead ran up to the cage where the captured humans were being held. “Don’t worry.” He told them, his voice dead serious. “I’m here to help. Just back away from this side.” The frightened but relieved humans did so, and Diamondhead produced a huge diamond blade from his arm. With two powerful swipes, he severed the top and bottom of the cage bars. The rods clattered to the ground and created a hole big enough for everyone to climb out of. 

“Get out of here. I’ll take care of these kidnappers.” Diamondhead ordered before running off, making sure to get the remaining dinosaurs’ attention with a few crystal blades to their platforms. One of them, the warthog like Anklyosaurus, jumped down and tried to charge him, but Diamondhead grabbed him and flung him into the styrachosaurus, causing both of them to hit the ground hard. Meanwhile, the humans ran away from the battlefield and into the protective hands of the police force.

The leader, Rex, scowled and readied his own weapon. “A Petrosapien? What’s it doing in this system?!” he yelled before firing his gun at Diamondhead. The alien ran faster than Rex could aim, and he evaded his blasts fairly easily. One lucky shot hit the hero in the shoulder, but it simply bounced off.  Realizing how futile it was, Rex angrily tossed the weapon aside and readied another, more dangerous weapon. 

“What do you think your doing, rockhead?” Rex demanded, firing his new weapon at the diamond headed alien. 

**BOOOOOOOM**

Diamondhead was able to sidestep just in time, as a large crater marked what would’ve happened if he’d stayed put. “This has nothing to do with you!”  Rex ranted as he pulled the trigger once more. 

**BOOOOOOOM**

Another miss. Rex was becoming frantic now. “You didn’t need to get involved! Why bother helping these worthless Earthians?!”

**BOOOOOOOM**

This one seemed to hit, as Rex didn’t see the Petrosapien jump away in time. The Tyrannosaurus alien nearly smiled, but then someone answered his question.

“Because that is what a hero does. Protect the innocent.”

Diamondhead, his skin cracked but still intact, jumped up and smashed Rex right in the face. The huge alien was staggered by the blow, and nearly fell off his platform. He didn’t drop his weapon, and once Diamondhead was back on the ground, he raised it for another shot.

“Bossusaurus!” The plesiosaur cried out, getting his leader’s attention. Rex glanced up out of his sights to see a less-than-pleasing sight.

More policemen were arriving in their patrol cars, backed by a handful of army jeeps. Some of the soldiers were carrying rocket launchers that could kill even Rex with a well-placed shot. More and more of them kept coming in, bringing more powerful armaments and deadly weaponry. But none of them frightened Rex as much as the ex-Plumber in a rusty RV that was watching the scene.

Growling furiously, Rex took a small orb from his suit. With the press of a button, he armed the thermal grenade. “You wanna be a hero, rockhead?” he yelled at Diamondhead. “Try and stop this bomb!” With that, Rex threw it at a crowd of civilian onlookers. The device imbedded itself into the ground and began beeping threateningly.

Diamondhead recognized that weapon. The blast radius of that grenade was roughly the size of the park itself. Realizing that this was no bluff, Diamondhead ran to the explosive. With the hero distracted, Rex sounded the retreat and fled back into his ship. The few dinosaurs that were still conscious fled into the ship as well, and it began to take off.

The device beeped faster and faster, preparing itself for an explosion. The civilians fled the area, but none of them would be able to escape the blast unless Diamondhead did something.

Diamondhead had to leap the last few feet, covering the explosive with his body. Using his crystallization powers, he encased the grenade in diamonds as thick as he could make them before the device went off.

**KABRRAAAAAAAAAAOUSH!!!!**

The force of the explosion caused the ground to shake, and when everyone looked up they saw a huge pillar of smoke where Diamondhead had been a minute ago. The dinosaurs’ ship flew away from the scene, but it was closely pursued by the police helicopters and army aircraft. Everyone on the ground was looking at the location of the explosion. 

The pillar of smoke concealed the charred and almost shattered Diamondhead being herded into an RV just as the Omnitrix started to depower. Once Diamondhead was inside, the device timed out and a red flash produced a very shaken Ben Tennyson. The boy stared blankly for a second before shaking his head clear.

“Are you CRAZY, Ben?!” Gwen furiously demanded. “That stunt could’ve killed you!”

Ben blinked, clutching his head for balance. “Wha…what?”

“Easy, Gwen.” Max reassured his granddaughter before turning to Ben. “I won’t say it wasn’t reckless, but if it wasn’t for that stunt, a lot of innocent people could’ve been killed. Everyone’s safe now. You did good, Ben.” He said, smiling at Ben.

Ben blinked before turning to look out the window. Families and friends were hugging each other with relieved joy. The army – or was it Steele’s group? – were locking up several aliens that resembled dinosaurs. There was a thick pillar of smoke billowing up into the sky. 

“Yeah…I guess I did…”

\---------

A hero walked up to the door to his parent’s room, but stopped in his tracks. For some reason, this wooden block frightened him. He could take on gigantic conquerers, rogue aliens, mutant murderers and gangs of kidnappers, but this door – or more accurately, who was waiting for him behind this door – gave him pause. 

It was a minute before he brought himself to knock on the door. “Mom? May I come in?”

There was silence for a minute, before the woman behind the door made an affirmative noise. The boy cautiously opened the door and entered the bedroom.

Sitting on the bed in the middle of the room was Sandra Tennyson. She used to smile and laugh, always had time to talk to Ben, always made him feel welcome. Now, she barely smiled and never laughed, didn’t even look up when Ben came in, and Ben couldn’t come close to her without feeling like an intruder. She was looking down at her hands, fiddling with her fingers absently. 

There was an empty silence for a brief eternity, before Ben finally spoke up. “I…heard about what you’re doing tonight.”

Sandra nodded. “Yes…I…heard you earlier.”

Ben looked away for a second. “I’m sorry you had to hear that.” He sighed.

Sandra glanced up to look at her son. His all-too-serious face belonged on someone much, much older. She’d hoped that Carl and Max had kept him out of this mess as much as they could, but Ben wasn’t someone who’d just ignore something like this. She just hoped that he didn’t know the worst details. 

“You…” Sandra mused for a moment. “You…do know that the police can only protect people if they know something’s happening, right? They can’t be everywhere at once.”

Ben just sighed. “I suppose.”

Sandra involuntarily shuddered. “No matter how much we all want them to be…”

Ben stepped back as if wounded. Sandra silently cursed herself. _You shouldn’t have said that…_

However, Ben quickly recovered. “Mom…are you sure you can do this?”

Sandra managed to make herself nod. “Yes…It won’t be easy, but if it means those…those…” She couldn’t even say what they were. “… _they_ get locked away for good, then it’s something I have to do.” She began to shiver despite her brave words. 

“I’m coming with you.”

Sandra blinked, looking up at her son. She hoped that he was joking…well, exaggerating in order to comfort her. No. His face was set, his expression dead serious. He’d meant every word. Was this the same kid who frequently lied about how clean his room actually was? Who avoided telling her and Carl about his alien forms for weeks?

Sandra shook her head. “Ben, no. There’s nothing you can do for me there.”

“But I want to help!” Ben emphasized. “That’s what a hero does.”

“Little late for that, don’t you think?” The bitter voice that came in didn’t belong to Sandra or her son. Both of them turned to see Carl Tennyson come into the room. He went straight to Sandra, not even looking at his son.

Sandra sighed. “Carl, please.”

Carl didn’t respond to that. “We should get going, Sandra. Come on.”

Sandra reluctantly got up before trying to smile at Ben. “Don’t worry, Ben. I can do this. Besides, I’m sure there’s more important things in the universe to save than your old mother.”

Ben just sighed even louder. It wasn’t until Sandra got to the front door and she saw her son solemnly looking down at her that she realized she’d said the wrong thing. Again. She tensed with anger at herself. _Now you’ve made him feel worse, you weak idiot. Why can’t I say the right thing? What should I say? Maybe I’ll know when I get back home…_

She turned to Max and Gwen, who were downstairs and waiting to see her off. “Hey…keep an eye on him, okay?”

Max nodded. “We will. Don’t worry.”

With that, she and Carl walked out the door, Ben watching them leave with a forlorn look on his face. As the car drove away, Ben just stood there blankly.

Max turned to his grandson. “Ben…”

“I-I’m fine.” Ben lied, rubbing his forehead. “I’m just…um…gonna w-watch something for awhile.” With that, Ben slumped downstairs, leaving Gwen and Max to glance at each other in confused worry.


	8. Wildmutt

Downtown Bellwood had recently passed a bylaw stating that if people walked their dogs in the city, they had to keep their pets from urinating on the trees as well as pick up after them. Nobody could walk more than 3 dogs at a time, and every dog had to be on a leash. No exceptions would be made.

Although some would argue that the gigantic orange, eyeless, spiky dog currently walking through the streets was an exception in and of itself.

Wildmutt didn’t notice any of the people staring at it, the animals that approached it curiously, or the timid rent-a-cops who tried to ask about it’s owner. It’s only concern was whatever it was sniffing on the ground. Every so often it would take a step in one direction, sniffing a new area of the sidewalk. 

“What’s it doing?” A man sitting at a café across the street asked his friends. 

“Maybe it’s trying to find the nearest steak house.” One of his buddies joked. 

“No…I think it’s trying to track somebody. My uncle trained police dogs, and this is what they used to do.” A man at another table answered.

“Huh. Wonder who it’s chasing.”

Suddenly, Wildmutt reared up and snarled. It’s fangs ground against each other as it took in the air. Whatever it had been looking for, it had just found it. And it didn’t like it at all.

The alien dog leapt away from the crowd of onlookers and started charging through the streets. It bolted into the distance, jumping over cars and weaving through frightened crowds. 

The man shook his head. “Heaven help whatever it’s hunting.”

 

There was an old apartment building on the west side of Bellwood. A weathered, dilapidated but still standing stone building, with several broken windows and a half-dead neon sign on the front. 

Not that Wildmutt saw any of it. All that Wildmutt cared about was the scent he was following. The scent he’d been following all the way from Bellwood suburbs. The alien dog shook with barely-repressed anger. The trail ended here. _They_ were here. 

But the hunt wasn’t over. No. This was a big place, with lots of people that Wildmutt had no quarrel with. He had to find his target’s exact location to be sure. And that was easy. The scent was stronger than ever here.

Wildmutt leapt onto the building, powerful claws digging into the stone. With animalistic ease, the alien climbed about the building, trying to find where that disgusting scent was the strongest. 

Several floors up, Wildmutt finally found the source of the scent. The window had been cracked open to let cigarette smoke outside. _They_ were still here. All three of them. Wildmutt let out an angry snarl. 

“Wha wassat?” A sleepy voice came from inside. Wildmutt’s grip on the wall tightened. 

“Must be the dogs again.” Another voice remarked. “I’ll shut ‘em up…”

Wildmutt knew what that voice was. It was _him._ The leader of the pack. He was coming up to the window…he was _right there…_

“What the fu-“

Wildmutt didn’t give him time to finish his curse. With an animalistic scream, The alien dog leapt through the window and right on top of the leader. Pinning the man to the floor, Wildmutt roared in his face and splattered him with spit. The leader clawed at the animal with his fingers with desperation. One of the roommates grabbed a nearby crowbar and tried to hit Wildmutt. 

Wildmutt saw the blow coming and retaliated. It’s claws slashed the man’s face, drawing blood and forcing the attacker back. Dropping the crowbar, the man screamed and clutched his face, desperately trying to stop the bleeding. 

The leader used this momentary distraction to land a solid hit on Wildmutt’s jaw, knocking the alien dog off him. Scrabbling to his feet, he bunched his fists together and tried to smash them both into his attackers head. But Wildmutt’s jaws were waiting for him, and the creature bit down on both of them with sharp teeth. The leader screamed in pain and tried to pull his hands free, which only made the teeth dig in deeper. Wildmutt could taste the blood trickling into his mouth. 

The other roommate was scrabbling in the desk drawer for a gun. Wildmutt overheard the noise and realized what he was trying to do. Not wanting to bring bullets into this, Wildmutt reared his head back and threw the leader into the other roommate, knocking both of them to the floor. A small revolver that the roommate had just grabbed clattered to the floor. Wildmutt crushed it underneath his paw as he stalked towards the two men. 

The leader had been knocked out, his cut hands bleeding onto the floor. The other roommate desperately crawled away from the enraged monster. “Leave me alone! What did I ever do to you?!” The wretch cried as he turned around to bolt out the door. Wildmutt just grabbed him by the back of his head and smashed it into the floorboards. The man let out a single groan and fell unconscious. 

Wildmutt turned back to the last remaining roommate, the one who’s face he had clawed. The man was still covering his face, his back to the corner as he tried to get as far away from the beast as possible. “Getawaygetawaygetawaygetawaygetawaygetawaygetawayfrommehelphelphelphelp-“ he babbled before Wildmutt encased his head in his paw. He thought about crushing this man’s skull in…

_No._

_What?_

_No. We’re not killing them._

_WHY NOT?!_

_We’re better than this. We’ve got what we needed. Let the police deal with these animals._

Wildmutt had paused while keeping his grip on the man’s face. Eventually he stopped struggling and just went limp. Wildmutt reluctantly let the unconscious man slump to the floor.

All three of them were out cold. Which was a very good thing, since the watch had run out of charge at the moment. A bright red flash, and the orange alien dog was replaced with a ten-year old boy. The snarl remained on his face for a second before he shook his head clear, and his expression became utterly blank. 

The boy looked around the scene with cold eyes. Now that he had his vision back, he could take a good look at his surroundings. The room was messy, and there were countless things that didn’t belong. A bag of green.  Guns that didn’t look like they had been sold legally. Diamond earrings. A box of watches. And a necklace with a diamond butterfly.

Yes, that was enough.

Being careful to sneak out of the building with nobody noticing him, the boy went up to a payphone and made a call. 

_”911. What is your emergency?”_

“There’s been an attack…”

\-------------------------

Gwen came back up the stairs, a slightly relieved look on her face. “OK, good news. He IS just watching TV. I double-checked all the doors, and put an enchantment on the perimeter. If he tries to get out, we’ll know right away.”

Max nodded before turning back to his laptop. “That’s good.”

Gwen went up beside him. “Now that that’s taken care of, what were you going to show me?”

Max typed something on his laptop, bringing up security footage of the Face Card’s last robbery. Gwen watched as Upgrade took down the three robbers using the sprinkler system and their own weapons. As she watched, though, something began to bother her. 

“Why isn’t he saying anything?” Gwen finally asked. “Ben’s the most talkative hero on the planet.” Watching Upgrade brush past the grateful employee without a word, she abruptly had flashbacks of computer class. 

“Well…” Max admitted. “I did tell him not to say anything when he’s Upgrade.”

Gwen blinked, confused. “Um…why?”

Max gave her an odd look. “Because it sounds the most like him. If we were going to keep people from figuring out that Ben is all these alien heroes, we need to misdirect them as much as we can.”

Gwen scratched her head. “I…guess that makes sense.”

Max nodded, bringing up a home video someone had taken of Fourarms playing with some kids he’d saved from Animo. He was smiling and laughing like a big old pal. “I also encouraged him to act differently when he’s different aliens. You know, so people don’t pick up that he’s all the same hero. He’s been…really good at that, actually.” Max mused, his expression becoming more and more troubled before he shook his head. 

Gwen’s expression just became more and more confused. “Okaaaaaaay… but what does that have to do with anything?”

Max kept looking away, his brow furrowing and his fingers drumming the table. “I…” he hesitated before speaking. “I’ve got a theory…but I don’t think you’ll like it.”

That got Gwen’s attention. “You do? What? Tell me!” she demanded.

Max looked back at Gwen, his expression somber enough to quiet Gwen. He paused for the longest moment, not wanted to tell her what was on his mind. He looked back at the computer screen, then downstairs where Ben was watching TV. He took a deep breath, and…

_BING!_

The oven timer went off, ruining the tension. Gwen groaned and Max tried his best to smile. 

“Looks like dinner’s ready.” He chuckled dryly. He took a sidelong glance at the kitchen. “Why don’t you get it out of the oven? I’ll get Ben.”

Gwen didn’t bother to hide her frustrated growl. 

Max got up and started walking downstairs. “I’ll try to explain later. I promise.”

Gwen was hardly satisfied with that promise, but she reluctantly shrugged and went to the kitchen to get the food ready.

As Max approached the TV room (a place that he strangely dreaded arriving at), he could hear what Ben was watching.

_“…thank you, Mr. Harangue. Now, regarding the recent string of robberies and assaults in Bellwood, the three individuals being charged have been released from the hospital-“_

Max abruptly picked up the pace. Ben shouldn’t be watching _that!_

_“An anonymous tip led to the three teenagers being found, having been attacked by a rabid dog while in their home. While being treated, an investigation found several articles of stolen jewelry in their apartment that matched items stolen. The three were treated at the hospital, and are now in police custody awaiting trial.”_

Max turned the corner to see a sight that did nothing to improve his mood.

The image on the screen was the mugshots of three young men that Max had hoped he’d never have to look at again. One of them had a face that was one giant bruise. Another’s face was covered in bandages. The third held up his mugshot number with heavily bandaged hands. The sight of those three made Max’s stomach churn. But that wasn’t what caught his eye.

Ben Tennyson, his grandson, the kid he’d tried to keep out of this horrible affair, was sitting on his haunches and _growling_ at the screen like a dog. His teeth were bared, his eyes were narrowed, his body was shaking with rage, and the guttural sound from his throat didn’t even sound human. 

Without hesitation, Max grabbed the remote and shut the screen off. Ben whirled around, his face a mask of angry confusion. When he saw Max holding the remote control, his eye twitched for a second before his hand went up to his forehead. Another headache? All at once, his expression changed.

“Hey Gramps!” he smiled broadly, though his eyes betrayed his nervousness. “Wh-What’s up?”

Max forced himself to smile back. “Supper’s ready. Hope you’re hungry for squid burgers!”

Ben’s face fell immediately. “Wonderful. Can’t wait.” He deadpanned before reluctantly getting up and walking to the kitchen.

Max followed him, not taking his eyes off Ben for a second. _This isn’t good._ Max thought to himself. _This isn’t good at all._


	9. Stinkfly

Mr. Nesmith’s newest tower was still in the developing stages, but it was coming along nicely. The foundation had been set, and the framework was being built up. One could already tell the building would be grand. What looked like a red skeleton today would be a monumental skyscraper tomorrow.

It was already very high up, as the construction worker on one of the beams could attest. Although cranes were much more advanced nowadays, there was often fine-tuning on the building framework that could only be fixed by a human worker. One of the beams had suddenly lost rivets holding it together, and if it was ignored for too long it could compromise the building structure. That was why he was out there. Good thing he wasn’t afraid of heights.

It didn’t take long for the rivets to be replaced, and the worker decided to take in the view of Bellwood before he went back down. He could see all the way to the still-under-construction harbor, all the way to the water. The sunlight reflecting off the ocean was stunning, and the worker subconsciously shielded his eyes and took a step backwards.

Unfortunately, the beam he was standing on wasn’t as wide as he thought.

All at once, he lost his balance. His body began tipping backwards further and further, and when he flailed his arms to grab something, anything, all it did was make him even more disoriented. His foot finally slipped, and his body started plummeting to the ground.

As he looked down to the tower foundations far below, he suddenly realized he _was_ afraid of heights. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!” he screamed…

Before being interrupted by a green-and-white buzzing blur. Suddenly the ground below wasn’t coming at him anymore. Instead, it was like he changed trajectory, and he was flying like a helicopter to a nearby, stable roof. Before he could even get his breath back, he was set on the stone roof. 

“You ok?” A scratchy, distorted voice asked him with equal parts concern and contempt.

Shaking his head clear, the worker turned to look at his savior, A giant insect, one of the ones he’d read about in the newspaper. What did the newspaper call it? Stinkfly? Well, it definitely smelled, but that didn’t really matter anymore. “Y-yeah…Th-thank you…”

Stinkfly’s stalk-eyes seemed to frown at him. “You were lucky I was flying by.” It hissed sourly. “I thought workers were supposed to wear harnesses or safety belts or something.”

The worker blinked. “We-well, I thought I could-“

“Save it.” Stinkfly held up one of his claws. “That was stupid. If I hadn’t been in the neighborhood at that exact second, you’d be a puddle on the ground. You can’t get stupid at that height. You should know that. Jeez, it’s like you _wanted_ to die.”

The worker scowled. “HEY! Are you calling me an idiot?!”

“Yes.” The alien said flatly. “You’re an idiot who was lucky I was flying by. Luck is the only reason you’re still breathing!” For a second, it looked like the bug was just going to continue ranting. However, it took a deep breath and sighed. “I’m sorry. I just…I just don’t want anyone else getting hurt just because I didn’t get there in time. Just be more careful from now on, K?”

With that, the alien insect took off and vanished into the horizon, leaving the rescued construction worker on the rooftop behind him.

\------------------------

“Squid burgers.” Ben groused sourly. “I guess normal food _would_ be too much to ask for from Gramps.”

Normally, Max would’ve bristled at that statement and Gwen would’ve agreed wholeheartedly. But both of them had too much on their minds to respond to Ben’s remark right away. They just bit into their burgers in silence, Max furrowing his brow in thought while Gwen kept glancing at her grandfather expectantly. 

There was a long, long silence before Ben spoke up. “Say, Gramps, what were you doing with that laptop? You looked pretty busy on it.”

Max was caught off guard by the sudden question, but he quickly recovered. “Well…I’ve been working on a video tribute of your alien’s heroics. Just been collecting footage for everything.”

Gwen tried to join the conversation, hoping to keep everything sounding normal. “Maybe that’ll be a better documentary than the one we saw today, huh Ben?”

“What documentary? What are you talking about?” Ben asked, confused. 

Gwen’s eye twitched for a nanosecond before Ben slapped his head upside. “Oh yeah…” he yawned. “That thing in social studies. Yeah, I remember that.”

Watching Ben yawn and disinterestedly slump in his chair, an idea came to Max. “You’ve been…pretty busy the last week.”

“Course I was.” Ben was picking at his food again, the scowl back on his face. “Dad kept pushing me out of the house, and so many things were happening everywhere. I had to do _something._ ” he groaned. 

Gwen nodded. “I know how that feels.”

“Oh, do you?”

Before Gwen could start arguing, Max cut in. “I read a blog post that said Fourarms helped get a kitten down for a little girl.”

“Hmm?” Ben blinked, before suddenly smiling. “Oh yeah, that! Heheh…yeah, I was walking through the park when I heard her crying. Had to help. Funny thing – she kept calling me ‘Handy Buddy’. Hah! Is that show still on?”

His broad smile, cheerful voice and enthusiastic demeanor came out of nowhere, catching Gwen off guard. Wasn’t he scowling and snarking a second ago? 

Before she could open her mouth and question this development, Grandpa changed the subject again. “And I’ve heard scuttlebutt that XLR8 stopped a robber on ‘Getaway Lane’.”

Another momentary pause before Ben waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. “Oh yeah, that. Easy as pie.” He boasted, leaning back confidantly. “Those supercars may look fast, but they’re nothing compared to m – er, to XLR8. Yeah.”

Gwen blinked. There it was, that feeling again…

“And how about Computron’s invasion at the docks?” Max continued, his smile trying to conceal his growing unease.

All at once, Ben slumped forward and sighed with boredom. His once bold eyes became sleepy and half-open. “’Superior beings from dimension 12’. Beaten in less than 10 minutes. Yawn. Been there, done that.”

Seeing Ben’s complete shift in attitude caught Gwen off guard. Did mood swings really work like that? Happy and bolt one second and then cranky and bored the next? Max had better explain this soon.

Instead, Max just kept talking. “Yeah, I guess it would get a little old. By the way, me and Gwen saw the video of Ripjaws interrupting that yacht party.”

Ben immediately sunk into his seat, biting his lip and blushing. “Y-y-yeah, that was…embarrassing. Really embarrassing.”

“What were you doing in the harbor, anyway?”

Ben rubbed the back of his neck, averting his eyes. “Uh…I was just…swimming around. Trying to do some th-thinking. Yeah…” he stammered for a second.

Max nodded. “Okay.” He took another bite of his burger before he continued. “Is that why you were flying around as Stinkfly the other day? A worker blogged about how he was lucky you happened to be in the neighborhood.”

“Y-yeah, he was trying to get home from – “ Suddenly his nervous look vanished, replaced with an angry expression in the space of a second. “Is there a point to this?! You clearly know all about this, so why are you asking me? Are you accusing me of something?!” Ben snapped, his fists tightening and his body tensing. 

Now Gwen was seriously freaked out. “Grandpa…?”

Max held up his defensively. “Easy, there. I just wanted to talk to my grandson.” He said soothingly.

That seemed to satisfy Ben, who took a deep breath and returned to his food. “Well, we’re talking _now_ , aren’t we?”

Max’s smile vanished. “But I’m not talking to Ben, am I?”

Gwen whipped her head around. “ _WHAT?!_ ”

The boy suddenly froze in place, his burger halfway to his mouth. His eyes widened in panic as he looked up at his grandfather. “Wh-wh-wh-what are you talking about? I’m Ben! I’m r-right here!” he stammered desperately, a terrified smile on his face. A smile that someone caught in a lie used as a last resort.

“I knew it!” Gwen snarled, her hands glowing with magic energy. “I knew you were a fake! Where’s the real Ben, you little liar!?!”

As Gwen stalked forward with rage in her eyes and magic in her hands, the boy fell off his seat and backed away like a cornered animal. “Nononono, it’s not like that, I swear! He’s safe! We haven’t done anything to him!”

Gwen’s eye twitched. “WE?!”

Before she could fire a single blast, Gwen felt her arm being gently held back by Grandpa Max. “Easy, Gwen. I can explain this.”

“You’d better, Gramps.” Gwen growled, creating a magic brace around her ‘cousin’ and hoisting him up into the air. The boy struggled against the magic bonds fruitlessly, his expression spinning between rage, terror, guilt and acceptance. Once he was secured, Gwen turned to her grandfather. “What’s. Going. On?” 

Max took a deep breath, preparing himself. “Ok. Like I said, I wasn’t talking to Ben. I was talking to Fourarms. XLR8. Cannonbolt. Stinkfly. Any and all of those aliens, taking turns.”

Gwen’s expression became even more confused. “What?!” 

‘Ben’ just sighed and slumped his head forward in defeat.

“I told Ben to vary his actions when he was in Hero mode. To ward off suspicion that they were all one person. He ended up assigning certain personalities to his aliens. Fourarms was the happy one, XLR8 the braggart, Heatblast the angry one, Upgrade the silent machine, and so on.” Max explained, looking straight at his grandson.  “Except now, they aren’t just roles he’s playing. They’re full-on alternate personalities. It hit me when I saw…Wildmutt snarling at the TV.”

“Stupid dog…” ‘Ben’ grumbled under his breath. Was it Ben? Or was it Stinkfly, or Heatblast? Max couldn’t tell, but he knew it wasn’t his grandson. 

Gwen’s face contorted as she looked between the boy she was holding and her grandfather. “Wha-alternate personalities? You mean…” Gwen stared at her grandfather, who looked dead serious, and ‘Ben’, who looked utterly defeated. “Y-you mean like…like what that guy in the cartoon had? Multiple Personality Disorder?”

“Well, actually…” the boy in the bonds spoke up, in an intellectual tone that Gwen hadn’t heard before. “The correct term nowadays is ‘Dissassociative Identity Disorder’, but it is a common misconception tha- **SHUT UP GREY MATTER!** ” The boy abruptly yelled out, terrifying Gwen and Max. Two different voices should not come out of the same mouth. 

Max just sighed, nursing his headache. “Ben’s hiding behind his heroes so he doesn’t have to deal with what happened to Sandra. He’s still in there, though. You can put him down.”

Gwen just stared at the boy in the magic bonds for a second. She hoped that this was some sick joke, some elaborate prank Max and Ben had cooked up. But between Max’s dead serious face and the utterly defeated expression on Not-Ben’s face, she knew this was no joke. This was really happening. 

With no small reluctance, she undid the bonds and set the boy on the floor. The kid who was and wasn’t Ben started rubbing his arm and looking away. This must be the personality that had apologized to Max and Gwen earlier. Ripjaws? Yeah, that must be it. 

“I-I’m sorry…” Ripjaws stammered.

“Don’t be sorry.” Max said somewhat harshly. “Just let me talk to my grandson.”

Ripjaws rubbed the back of his neck. “He’s…he’s not coming out. I t-t-tried to talk to him, but…”

Max shrugged in exasperation. “This…this is unbelievable. Ben’s stronger than this-“

“Oh really?” Stinkfly suddenly spoke up again, drawing his eyes right up to Max. “Is that why you wouldn’t tell him anything about what happened? Why you kept shoving him out of the house when he tried to help?”

Max gulped. “That’s not what I…”

“Didn’t you and Carl say that ‘he’s too young for this, he can’t handle this’? You think we didn’t hear you? You think BEN didn’t hear you?” Stinkfly continued to rant. “Or did you just not want to look at the hero who DIDN’T save her?! 

“That’s not what I meant!” Max finally yelled. “Ben doesn’t hide behind imaginary friends when things get too tough for him!”

“Why not?! He’s not any kind of hero! WE’RE the heroes! You and him, you’d all like to think that he can take having his life threatened every other day, that he can handle the responsibility of constantly having lives depend on him, but in the end he’s just a scared little kid who can’t do anything right by himself! We’ve had to handle things for MONTHS no-“

The boy’s hands slammed over his mouth too late. Everyone’s eyes widened, and time stood still as what he just said sunk in. Gwen and Max stared with open mouths at the boy, not believing what they just heard. After only just processing that the boy before them was not alone in his head, Gwen was paralyzed at this new notion.

“… _Months?_ ” Max gasped. This was something he hadn’t counted on.

Underneath the hands, Heatblast growled. “Stinkfly, you moron.”

After giving one last guilty look at Gwen and Max, the boy’s hand swiftly slammed down on the Omnitrix dial. A blinding flash of green forced Gwen and Max to momentarily look away. When they opened their eyes, they saw XLR8 stand there for a split second before disappearing in a blue blur.

\---------------

 

“…I’m sorry to keep making you relive this, Mrs. Tennyson.” The officer apologized. Sandra was sitting with one of the police officers in the interview room. 

“No…I…it’s fine. If it helps at all…” She stammered, nervously wringing her hands. 

“Ok…now, just start from the beginning.”

It was a minute before Sandra started talking. “Al-alright. It was a Monday afternoon. Carl was at work, and B-Ben was still at school. I was supposed to go to a flower show that day, so I dressed up. Wore my favorite necklace…when can I have that back?”

“After the trial, Mrs. Tennyson.”

“Ok…s-so anyway, I got a call from one of my friends. She said that the show was canceled at the last minute. So I… just hung around the house, reading a book that I was meaning to get into for a while. Great Expectations. I had been reading for an…an hour, I think, when I heard the door being opened. I…thought it was Carl or Ben, coming home early, so I went out to say hello.

It…it wasn’t Ben or Carl.”

Sandra was shivering now. “Th-they…when they saw me, two of them grabbed me and started h-hittting me…every time I tried to yell for help, they hit me and told me to sh-shut up…Ripped my b-butterfly necklace off…and then they started talking and laughing and then they…they…” 

Sandra sniffled, her entire body shaking. “The two of them dragged me to my bedroom…and he…he…he was on top of me and…”

“OK, Mrs. Tennyson. Let’s try focusing on something else. What about the other two?”

“The-the other two? Um…I…I think they went back out the door to the hallway…They came back in a second…to watch…”

The officer raised his eyebrow. “Do you have any idea why they left the room?”

“N-no, I was…wait…now that I think about it, I heard a noise a few seconds before, just outside the door…”

“What kind of noise?”

“I don’t know! I can’t describe it, but it was…I don’t know, a beeping sound? The fire alarm going off somehow? And…maybe…I think out of the corner of my eye, I saw something weird, a bright…red…flash…”

Sandra’s eyes went wider than they ever had before.

“Oh my God.”


	10. Grey Matter

After the very eventful first night of summer vacation, the Rust Bucket was driving out of Bellwood proper and heading towards Washington D.C. Max was driving, occasionally glancing back at his two grandchildren, who were regarding the alien watch Ben had acquired.

Ben tapped his fingers impatiently on the alien device. “Geez, this thing takes _FOREVER_ to recharge.” He groaned aloud, slumping back into his chair.

Gwen’s stared at the list that Ben had been writing since last night. “Ok, ‘Fourarms’? Seriously? That’s the best you could come up with? Sounds like something off a kiddy show.”

“You come up with something better.” Ben scoffed. 

Gwen just rolled her eyes and set the piece of paper down. Doodles of the aliens Ben had transformed into already were placed right next to names Ben had created. “Ok, whatever. You said there were ten aliens on that thing, right?”

“Yep.” Ben nodded, staring down at the watch. “When I checked out the watch, there were 10 settings on it. And we’ve got 7 names so far…” Suddenly, a look of inspiration struck him. “Hey…I’m Ben Tennyson…10 aliens…Ben 10! Now _that’s_ a catchy name! Gonna be all over the news by the time school starts again!”

“Hold on there, Ben.” Max chided from the driver’s seat. “The last thing we want to do is broadcast who you are. If those robots from the campsite showed us anything, it’s that someone is determined to get that watch from you. If he finds out who you are, you’ll be in big trouble.”

Ben just chuckled. “Aw, come on. There’s nothing this watch can’t handle! Between Ripjaws, Fourarms, Stinkfly, and Upgrade, I got everything covered! What could possibly happen?” 

_BEEEEEEEeEeEP!_

“Speaking of which…” Ben smiled broadly as he brought the watch face up to him. He began spinning the dial, going through the silhouttes of the aliens he’d already transformed into. “Fourarms…Wildmutt…Heatblast…Ah, here’s a new one! Get ready, Gwen!”

With a confidant smile, Ben slammed his wrist down on the green alien device. There was a bright green flash…and then Ben was gone.

“Ben?” Gwen rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t just seeing things. “Ok, lemme guess. This new alien is invisible.”

“Not quite.” A small, squeaky voice groaned. “Down here.” 

Gwen looked down and laughed. “Woooooooooow. Oh yeah, alien robots will tremble in fear at the sight of you.”

Glaring up at her was a tiny bipedal gray frog with yellow eyes. The tiny alien groaned and folded his arms. “Well, this is just great. A micro-munchkin.”

“Takes all kinds.” Max shrugged, trying to add some levity. 

The new alien leapt up onto the table. “Well, at the very least, this form’s hind legs are sufficiently developed, and the metatarsals can withstand long jumps.” The alien blinked, it’s eyelids going from side to side. “Wait…what are metatarsals?”

“I think that’s the scientific term for the bones in your feet.” Max answered.

The alien scratched his head. “But…how did I know that? I’ve never researched amphibians of any sort before! I’ve never even opened a textbook on biology before! I don’t even know what biology _is_!”

_It’s the scientific study of life._

“It’s the scientific study of life, doofus.”

The tiny alien huffed. “I knew that!”

_I did?_

Max chuckled. “I guess this alien has advanced intelligence.”

Gwen raised an eyebrow at that. “Really? Wonder what Ben could possibly do with that?” 

“HEY!” The alien yelled out. 

“We’ll call you ‘Grey Matter’.” She cheerfully patted the froglike alien’s head. ‘Grey Matter’ grumbled for a second, but didn’t protest the name. “Say, Grey Matter, I got a question. When you turned into this tiny thing, where’d the rest of you go?”

Without missing a beat, Grey Matter answered. “Well, the human genetic material is stored in the Omnitrix for fast retrieval. Meanwhile, any physical matter that is displaced is shunted through a quantum teleporter built into the interface, into a parallel dimension that is able to maintain said theoretical mass indefinitely.”

Gwen just stared wide-eyed for a moment. “Um…o-kaaaaaaay...”

_Ok, I DEFINITELY didn’t know anything about that! How could I possibly know? What the heck is genetic material? What’s a quantum teleporter?! What’s physical matter? What does ‘displaced’ mean? And what the heck is the Omnitrix?!_

_‘Genetic material’ refers to the materials found in the nucleus, mitochondria and cytoplasm, which play a fundamental role in determining the structure and nature of cell substances. Physical matter is a physical thing that occupies space in the universe. ‘Displaced’ means moved. And the Omnitrix is obviously –_

_THAT’S NOT THE QUESTION!_ Grey Matter clutched his head to stop the oncoming headache. _I sound like a dictionary I’ve never read! I’ve only read comic books and maybe a few school assignments, and they’ve never mentioned quantum teleportation or mitochondria or omnitrixes or anything! How could I possibly understand something I’ve never heard of in my life! What am I talking about?! What am I THINKING about?!?! HOW DO I KNOW EVERYTHING AND DON’T AT THE SAME TIME?!?_

_Calm down, Ben! You’re smart now! Let the answers come to you!_

_CALM DOWN?! YOU’RE TELLING ME TO –_

_Wait. Am I arguing with MYSELF?_

At that moment, the watch began beeping and flashing red. Before Ben could react to the watch depowering, there was a red flash and it was Ben Tennyson standing on the table. He immediately lost his balance and fell to the floor, much to Gwen’s amusement.

Ben sat up, rubbing his aching head. He looked inside himself for the knowledge he’d possesses seconds ago, but it was gone. There was nothing in his memories except comic books and Captain Nemesis episodes. No mention of biology or genetics or the Omnitrix. “Ok, that was really weird.”

“No way.” Gwen melodically hummed. 

Ben turned to look his cousin in the eye. “No, Gwen, seriously. That was _really_ freaky.”

“Of course it was!” Gwen laughed. “You were actually _smart_ for a second.”

Ben opened his mouth to retort, but nothing came out. Eventually, he just got up and groaned. “Ha ha. Real funny.” Grabbing the list off the table, he wrote down the new alien’s name. “OK, that makes 8 heroes. Wonder what the other two are like…”

\---------------------------------

Gwen could feel XLR8 smashing against her spell several times, but the alien never got through. She had to concentrate a little to keep the spell intact, but it held against the speedster’s attempts to flee. Eventually, XLR8 just gave up and ran back inside. Judging by the slamming sound, the alien had retreated to Ben’s room and locked himself in.

Gwen glanced down at Max, who was staring hard at his laptop. No doubt Grandpa was going through all the videos he’d collected of Ben, trying to figure out what had gone wrong and why he hadn’t noticed it before. A picture of Heatblast attacking an arsonist. A news article on Diamondhead at the park. News footage of Grey Matter disabling a rampaging robot. He stared at the images, trying to fathom when and where his grandson had changed.

Gwen, however, knew where she was going to get her answers. 

She waited until she heard the Omnitrix depowered. Somehow, she figured that it would be easier if she saw her cousin’s face when she talked to him. Even if it wasn’t his voice. Besides, she didn’t want XLR8 to try anything with his super-speed. 

Once the red flash signified that her cousin was human again, Gwen knocked on the door. “Be…um, whoever’s in there? Can I come in?” 

No answer. She put her ear to the door. She couldn’t make out the words, but it sounded like the aliens in Ben’s body were having some sort of argument over whose fault this mess was. Gwen and Ben used to joke about people talking to themselves, but now it was anything but funny. 

“Hello?” Gwen tried again, knocking louder. When she still got no response, she tried opening the door. The door rattled and knocked against something, but didn’t open. There must’ve been a barricade behind it. 

Gwen growled. She was not waiting. “I’m coming in!” she yelled, closing her eyes and casting a teleportation spell she had been rehearsing the last few months. With a purple flash, she vanished from the hallway.

“GAH!” 

When she opened her eyes, she was in Ben’s room. It looked a lot neater than it should have, with the floor clear and the books organized. Apparently, at least one of these personalities was a neat freak. If it weren’t for the Sumo Slammer and Kangaroo Commander posters, she would’ve thought she was in _her_ room. There was also the mirror that looked like it had been on the business end of someone’s fist. 

She didn’t see her cousin at first. She whirled around to see the boy had grabbed a baseball bat and was holding it above his head. The absolutely furious look on his face told Gwen that he was serious about using it. Gwen quickly put up a defensive spell. 

“GET OUT!” Heatblast yelled, bringing the bat down on Gwen’s shield. It bounced off, knocking the enraged boy back and causing him to lose his balance. 

“Easy! I just wanna talk!” Gwen retorted.

The boy teetered unsteadily for a second before putting the bat down. He still glared at Gwen, though not as furiously. “What’s there to talk about? Our secret’s out, it’s off to the loony bin for Ben, isn’t it?” Stinkfly demanded angrily. 

“It doesn’t have to be like that!” she pleaded. 

“Course it doesn’t.” Stinkfly growled. “If you’d just shut off whatever spell you’ve put on the house, we could leave and be out of everybody’s hair!”

“Because that worked the _last_ time?” Gwen retorted. “And just how do you think Sandra will take her son running away?”

“How do you think Sandra will take _us?!?!_ ” Stinkfly yelled. 

There was a stalemate for a moment, the two children staring at each other in silence. Neither of them moved nor spoke, Gwen keeping her shields up while Ben kept holding his bat. Time stood still as the situation sunk in.

Eventually, the baseball bat fell to the floor. With a depressed sigh, whoever was controlling Ben sat down on the bed. The boy slumped forward, his head falling into his hands. Gwen relaxed, her shield spell vanishing. Looking at her cousin, she could tell ‘Ben’ wasn’t crying…he was too quiet. Like he’d just plain given up, and didn’t care enough to cry. 

After a minute’s hesitation, she sat down next to the boy and put her hand around his shoulder. Whoever it was, he didn’t respond to the gesture at all. “Ben…or…whoever. I want to help. I really do, but…I need to understand this. Can you…can you tell me what happened?”

Ripjaws glanced up. “You…you r-really wanna h-help?” he stammered. His expression then suddenly became skeptical. “How can you possibly help?” Stinkfly asked. 

“I…I don’t know.” Gwen admitted. “I don’t know, but maybe if I understood this, I can help. I just…just tell me what happened. What’s going on with Ben?”

Stinkfly gave her an odd look, but he didn’t raise any objections. He just muttered, “Ask the brainiac…” before turning away. 

Gwen waited for a second before ‘Ben’ looked up again. He sat up straight, rubbing his hands in what almost looked like anticipation. He turned to look Gwen straight in the eye, a half-smile on his face. “So…” he said in the intellectual tone she’d heard earlier. “What would you like to know?” He seemed almost eager to talk. 

Gwen paused for a second, not sure what to ask first. “Um…like I said, how does this…multiple…personality thing work?”

Grey Matter raised a correcting finger in the air. “Dissociative Identity Disorder. That is what psychologists label it nowadays. The psychologists who believe it exists, at any rate. It’s still a debated condition, not helped by the popular perception perpetuated by movies and television…”

Gwen groaned. “OK, so you’re the one who read that psychology textbook. So how does it work?”

Grey Matter shrugged. “I apologize. I do tend to ramble…at any rate, DID is characterized by the presence of multiple personalities. In most recorded cases, the individual is completely unaware of his other personalities actions, because when he slips into a dissociative state, he –“ On seeing the blank expression on Gwen’s face, Grey Matter chuckled nervously. 

“Well, perhaps an example would illustrate the concept better. Most cases are a result of…please do not take this the wrong way, but they are a result of abuse. The way it works, a child who suffers abuse will attempt to cope by creating what amounts to an imaginary friend. Someone who could take the abuse while they go to a happy place themselves. When they are threatened, the imaginary friend takes control while the child hides away.”

Gwen scratched her head. “Ok…I guess that makes sense, but…Ben was never abused! We never-“

“I am not accusing anything!” Grey Matter defended. “As I said, that is reminiscent of MOST cases. Not all. I think it is safe to say that Benjamin is a very…special case.”

Gwen stared at Grey Matter with a strange look. “OK, I’ll grant that, but…then how?”

Grey Matter held up the Omnitrix and tapped it for emphasis. “This, really. Do you remember what he said the first time he transformed?”

Gwen thought back. “He said…he said that it was like he was him and…someone else at the same time…” Her brow furrowed as the implications began to sink in. 

Grey Matter nodded, getting up and pacing around the room. “The Omnitrix does not just contain the genetic information of the alien species. Each individual alien had a copy of their own mental faculties, including biological instincts and physical capabilities. Otherwise, the device would be useless. You didn’t find it somewhat unusual that Ben automatically understood how to utilize a form that didn’t have any eyes? Or extra appendages? Or capabilities that no human has no reference or understanding of?”

Gwen placed her hand on her chin in thought. “That…always did seem weird.”

“’Weird’ is putting it mildly.” Grey Matter remarked, glancing at the broken mirror. “Imagine having your mind being transformed into the body of a fish, but you did not have at least some knowledge or instinct of how to use your newfound gills or tail, or if there was a specific process your new form required for survival. You would die fairly quickly. Whenever he transformed, Ben’s mind changed to fit the alien he transformed into.” Grey Matter found himself touching the shattered reflection. “It was especially confusing when he turned into…well, me. So many new thoughts, ideas and concepts, a completely different perspective on everything he looked at. And he…was not certain how to deal with that. You could say it was a kind of identity crisis.” 

“But…Ben isn’t the kind of kid who’d spend a lot of time pondering his identity. Didn’t he laugh when I tried to tell him how meditation works?”

Grey Matter chuckled and shrugged. “I suppose that’s true. However, the fact of the matter is, it was several factors that led to his disassociation. Here is another one to consider. Stinkfly mentioned the fact that he was constantly having his life threatened, as well as the notion of responsibility for saving others?”

“Ben’s a big hero wannabe. He always wants to help others. The Omnitrix let him do that better than ever! He never said anything…”

“Just because he didn’t tell you anything doesn’t mean he wasn’t scared!” The boy suddenly snapped, and Gwen could tell Stinkfly was talking again. “What if lives were at stake, and he failed? What if he turned into the wrong alien? Better yet, what if the alien he turned into could have saved everyone if he’d known what to do, but he didn’t?! How do you think he could’ve taken that, little miss always-knows-exactly-what-spell-to-cast?!”

“HEY!” An insulted Gwen stood up furiously. “You think I’M not scared I’ll mess up? That I’M not afraid for everyone else when something happens? You think Ben is the only one who’s scared by the hero business?!”

The boy continued shouting, getting right up in Gwen’s face. “But when YOU save the day, it’s YOUR accomplishment! YOUR skills and knowledge! It’s YOU who cast the spells! YOU who save everyone! YOU who gets to brag about how great they are! Every time Ben saves the day, it’s really Heatblast or Diamondhead or Stinkfly or Upgrade or ANYTHING and EVERYTHING but BEN! And yet, when something goes wrong, HE’S the one to blame! It was BEN who ran off and met Kevin! It was BEN who unleashed the Megawhatt! BEN is an entitled brat because he’d like a reward for risking his life! BEN is the one who constantly needs a lesson in humility! BEN is a jerk! BEN is a wimp! BEN is a dweeb! BEN is a coward for hiding behind his ‘imaginary friends’, when he doesn’t even control us! So if BEN is such a juvenile screw-up, who the hell stopped Vilgax and Animo?! **Answer that, Gwen!** ”

Gwen didn’t have an answer. Her face fell as her enraged expression disappeared. She just stood there for a second as the accusation sunk in. Numbly, she sat back down on the bed. The boy quivered with rage for a minute before rubbing his forehead and composing himself. 

“Um...ahem.” Grey Matter stammered apologetically. “For whatever it’s worth, _I_ don’t blame you for not noticing anything. The truth is, these things affected Ben on a subconscious level. Even _he_ didn’t realize they were affecting him.”

Gwen was more confused now. “But then…how…?”

“It was a gradual process.” Grey Matter explained. “Ben understood that when things became serious, he had to respond accordingly. So when he was in alien form, he entered a sort of ‘hero mode’ in his head. The best analogy I can think of for the initial hero mode is that of an actor getting deep into his part. This was no doubt helped by Max’s insistence that he act differently for each alien.”

Grey Matter was fingering one of the Captain Nemesis action figures. “Over time, he got deeper and deeper into the part. At least, that was what he thought. His ‘hero mode’ became akin to sleepwalking, automatic responses. Later, it was like he was riding shotgun rather than driving the heroes. He still didn’t notice or really care, since at the end of the day, he was still being a hero and everyone was still saved. 

He only suspected something was wrong when he started blacking out. He started losing track of time, not knowing what day or hour it was. Sometimes he’d wake up and not know where he was or how he got there. And he soon found he didn’t remember anything he did when he transformed. Surely, you noticed that he stopped talking about his alien exploits at some point.”

Gwen hummed in thought. “Yeah…now that I think about it, he kept asking what time it was, and he barely talked about his heroics…but why didn’t he say anything to me or Grandpa? After Ghostfreak, those blackouts would’ve terrified him!”

“Well…” Grey Matter nodded. “If I had to guess, I’d say that, at first, he might’ve dismissed the time jumps as him nodding off or summer days bleeding together. Just as he was starting to take these blackouts seriously, we spoke with him.”

Gwen blinked. “What? But I thought he had no idea you existed!”

“He didn’t…until he stumbled onto the Ditto form. We all remember that day…”


	11. Ditto

The basketball court next to the beach was all but deserted. It wasn’t too dark for anyone to play, nor was the weather poor. If anything, it was the perfect night for an evening game. However, a combination of the court’s poor upkeep, other courts throughout the city, and the recent threat of giant mutant dragonflies kept everyone away from this particular court. The only creatures present were curious seagulls and six identical aliens. 3 of them were wearing t-shirts, one red, one blue and one green. 

“OK…” The de facto leader Ditto addressed the other 5. “Just so we don’t have the same mess as last time, we’ve got shirts and skins. The skins get _that_ hoop, the shirts get _that_ hoop. Everybody got that?”

The rest of the Dittos all nodded or said some form of ‘yes’. 

“Alright! Let’s get started!” The head Ditto smiled, clapping his hands together in anticipation. Not wearing a shirt, he joined the skins’ side. The game was quickly underway.

The basketball game went on quite smoothly, although Ben had to admit that constantly talking to himself, yelling at himself, competing against and working with himself all at the same time was unbelievably strange. More than once, both he and his duplicates had to rub their foreheads to soothe a headache. But that wasn’t the strangest thing that happened during the game. 

No, the strangest thing was yet to come. 

The skins were in the lead, 5-2. One of the shirt Dittos, wearing a blue t-shirt, kept staring wistfully out at the ocean, missing several passes and opportunities for shots. More than once his teammates threw the ball at him only for it to bounce off, knocking him off his feet. Eventually, his teammate had had enough.

“What are you staring at?!” The green shirt Ditto snapped angrily at the blue shirt Ditto. That Ditto cowered before the angry one like a frightened child. “Hey, look at me! You’re not going into the water, so get your head in the game!”

“I’m s-s-s-s-sorry…” the scared Ditto stammered, not that the angry Ditto cared. 

“And stop that sniveling! For the love of God, if you ever want to be useful you have to be able to stand up for yourself! LOOK AT ME!”

 _SWOOSH_. As they were talking, one of the shirtless Dittos threw a basketball into the basket. A perfect 3-point shot. 

“Heyyyy there.” The last ‘shirt’ Ditto, one with a red shirt, came between the two. With a broad smile, he separated the two arguing Ditto. “Calm down, there. It’s just a game, guys! We’re all just having fun, here!” The smiling Ditto put his arm around the shaking Ditto’s shoulders. “Chin up. Maybe we’ll go swimming after the game.”

“Re-really?” The scared Ditto’s eyes lit up. 

_SWOOSH_ The other Ditto took another shot, completely ignoring the argument that the other two ‘skin’ Ditto decided to investigate.

The green shirt Ditto rolled his eyes. “That’s a big maybe, buddy. I don’t think Ben is too keen on going swimming tonight.” With that, he motioned to the de facto boss of the Dittos, the one that had organized the game. 

Ben shook his head and shrugged. “Yeah, I’m not really in the mood for swimming. Besides, isn’t there some kind of rule against swimming right after a game?”

“Actually…” Another one of the ‘skin’ Dittos came walking up. “There’s no such rule. In fact, a nice swim could help relieve the tension in the muscles, reduce inflammation and help buffer the lactic acid buildup and reduce the soreness we might experience tomorrow. Although I’m not sure that this game was physically strenuous enough for that to be a significant concern.”

Ben blinked and shrugged. “Er…what he said…” His eye suddenly twitched, and he scratched his head. “…What…I…said…wait, If I don’t want to go swimming, and you’re copies of _me_ , why do _you_ want to go swimming?”

The blue shirt Ditto blushed and rubbed the back of his head. “W-well…it’s where I feel the most comfy, it’s nice and p-peaceful under the water…most of the time…and w-well-“

 _SWOOOSH_. 

“That’s not the question!” Ben snapped. “You’re me! Why am _I_ disagreeing with myself? Am I arguing with _myself?!_ What the heck is going on?” Ben’s expression became more and more contorted, and the rest of the Dittos suddenly looked very worried. 

_SWOOOSH_.

Ben turned around to investigate his teammate. “Hey! We’re not playing right now. You can stop making those shots!” 

_SWOOOSH_

“Dude? Hello?” Ben ran up to his teammate, leaving the other 4 Dittos to look to each other. 

“What _is_ going on? We know who we are, but we shouldn’t be able to talk to each other. Not like this, anyway.”

“Well, if I had to guess, I would say that this is another mechanism of Ben’s to deal with the contradiction of speaking with someone who is and yet who isn’t himself, and as such, we’ve each-“

“Sorry I asked.”

“We should just tell him who we are.”

“B-but it might freak him out!”

“He’s ALREADY freaked out! Just look!” 

Ben was _definitely_ freaked out right now. No matter what he did, he couldn’t get his duplicate’s attention. He waved his hands in front of it’s face, yelled in it’s ear, and jumped up and down. But the duplicate, who was SUPPOSED to be acting like HIM, wouldn’t take his focus off the basket he kept dunking, wouldn’t speak a single word, and wouldn’t even change his blank expression. 

“Dude, TALK to me!!” Ben begged, but the Ditto ignored him completely, firing another basket. In desperation, Ben grabbed the silent Ditto’s shoulder, but the copy just shoved him off without a word.

Ben just gaped, staring at the other Ditto with a slack jaw and wide eyes. “Wha…”

Before he could articulate anything, Ben felt his shoulder being grabbed. He looked to see the Ditto in the red shirt was pushing him away from the basket. “Heheh, don’t worry about that guy, buddy. Come on, we got something to tell ya.” He chuckled, although his eyes betrayed a look of nervousness.

“Uh…okay…” Ben gulped, more confused than ever as he was pushed towards the waiting group of Dittos. 

They were all acting differently, even now. The blue shirt was hiding behind the skin, who was tapping his fingers in what felt like anticipation. The green shirt was standing to the side, scowling with his arms folded. 

The red shirt Ditto joined them, clasping his hands together. “OK, listen.” He started, much to the chagrin of the remaining skin Ditto. “This might be a little bit…well…shocking. I think it’s only fair to tell you that…we never meant to hurt you, Ben.”

Ben just raised his eyebrow. “Why WOULD you want to hurt me? Like I said, you’re me!” Without warning, Ben promptly hit his side with his fist. All the assorted Dittos rubbed their sides in response. “See? You’re all…you’re all just copies of me, copies of this form, so you feel the same things I do! You’re all me!” His voice was becoming more and more cracked, trying to hide his increasing nervousness.

“Well…” the blue shirt gulped, accompanied by an annoyed sigh by the green shirt. “That’s…k-kinda true, it’s just…well…we _are_ and _aren’t_ you…if that m-makes any sense…”

“Of…course it does!” Ben tried to smile. “We’re all Dittos! You’re Ditto, I’m Ditto, and we’re all-“

“Oh for the love of-“ The Green shirt snapped, storming up and jabbing his finger into Ben’s chest. “Let’s make this clear right now. You’re Ben.” Then he pointed to himself. “I’m Stinkfly.” He then gestured to the red shirt, the blue shirt, and the ‘skin’ Ditto that was tapping his fingers impatiently. “Fourarms. Ripjaws. Grey Matter. And I’m guessing the quiet one’s Upgrade.”

Ben didn’t have a response to that. “Bwuh?”

The skin – Grey Matter, apparently – pushed Stinkfly aside and started talking. “You see Ben, according to the research I conducted, you appear to have developed a condition called Dissociative Identity Disorder. The identity crisis created by the Omnitrix, combined with the simple pressure of being a hero and the fear of constantly having responsibility thrust upon you resulted in the creation of several alternate personalities, corresponding to the identities of the aliens you transformed.” 

The red shirt, Fourarms, glanced at Grey Matter and nodded. “Yeah…what he said. Anyway, the point is, you made us to help you deal with everything crazy that happened to you this summer. Every time things got too much for you, one of us came in and took care of everything.”

“S-so you could stay a kid.” Ripjaws nodded. “It’s kinda like…kinda like th-that guy from the K-kangaroo Commander show? Um…Mr. Hyde?”

Ripjaws was quickly elbowed by Stinkfly. “Don’t compare him to THAT, moron.”

“Oh, s-s-sorry. But…yeah.”

Ben just stared at the aliens blankly for a moment. They all stared back, waiting for him to respond. There was a silence for a brief eternity, broken only by the sounds of Upgrade shooting baskets. 

Then Ben burst out laughing. “BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAA!” He laughed hard enough to double over, clutching his sides. He rubbed the tears out of his eye and smiled. “Ahah…hah…wow, you guys really had me going there! Real good joke, me! Telling me I’m _crazy_! Hahaaa…what a hoot! Boy, can I prank or what?”

None of the other Ditto’s smiled. Not even the one that always smiled. Grey Matter shook his head. “This…isn’t a joke, Ben.”

Ben stopped laughing, but his smile stayed on. “It’s a joke! It’s gotta be!”

“Yeah, no.” Stinkfly shook his head. “Say, remember when we were at that dumb theme park? ‘Lakeside Amusements?’ You remember that broken down place, right?”

“Of course I do! We spent a whole day there, even though half the rides were broken. The Haunted House was really cheesy…”

“Well, you remember when the spikes came down from the ceiling in that house? Or when Circus Freak Trio showed up and tried to wreck the shooting gallery for some dumb reason, and we had to fight them off?”

Ben blinked, his smile vanishing. “Uhh…er…um…”

“Of course you don’t! Halfway through the house, you got scared and hid, and let Diamondhead take over and get you out of there. Then, when the freaks showed up, _I_ was the one who handled them! Good thing my slime stopped Acid Breath’s little cough. His power’s pretty lame, actually.”

“Ah…ahded…uh…” Ben stammered desperately, searching his mind for the memories that HAD to be there, but simply weren’t. 

“And how about the brainiac’s research?” Stinkfly gestured to Grey Matter, who recoiled instinctively. “You think Gwen was putting those psychology books next to your bed? Or that you usually napped with textbooks on your chest?”

“Buh-b-buh…” Ben was starting to shake. Any semblance of a smile was gone from his face, replaced with a look of growing terror.

“Uh, Stinky?” Fourarms nudged Stinkfly. “Maybe you should go a little easier…”

Stinkfly just dismissed him, dragging Ripjaws out into the front. “OK, how about a few days ago, when you woke up and the sheets were sopping wet? And when you asked Max about it, they said you went for a midnight swim, but you didn’t remember it? That was Ripjaws, here.”

Ripjaws waved. “Yeah…sorry about that…”

Ben started shaking his head vehemently. “Nononononono…That-that doesn’t mean anything! I don’t remember everything that happened in the summer! I don’t remember things that happened last week! I never remember everything that happened in my life! That kind of stuff…that kind of stuff bleeds together! That’s all!” he yelled, his eyes betraying just how terrified he really was.

Grey Matter shook his head. “While it’s true that memory is selective, you cannot ignore the fact that you have lost significant chunks of time with no memory. I know you have noticed that you cannot remember recent heroic acts.” 

Ben was shaking like a leaf at this point. He couldn’t deny what they were saying at all, but…but…there had to be another explanation! This…this couldn’t be for real! “No…no no no no no no….”

Fourarms stepped forward. “Ben, take a breath, calm down…”

“You’re telling me I’m crazy!” Ben screamed, backing away from the aliens and almost toppling over. “I AM NOT CRAZY! I CAN’T BE CRAZY! I HAVE THE MOST POWERFUL THING IN THE UNIVERSE ON MY WRIST! _I! CAN’T! BE! CRAZY!_ ” 

The ferocity of Ben’s outburst caused the Dittos to step back. Stinkfly muttered to Ripjaws. “I told you not to compare him to Hyd-“

“STOP TALKING!” Ben yelled, gasping for breath. “This is just some sick joke! Some prank I’m playing on myself! Because I! AM! ME! You’re all ME! I’m in control of my life! I’m a hero! I’m not some basket case! I! AM! NOT! CRAZY!” Another duplicate appeared beside Ben, and was immediately grabbed and forced to look at Ben. “Back me up here!”

On seeing Ben, Wildmutt barked excitedly and licked his face.

Ben just froze in place, his eye twitching as he stared at his alternate personalities.  For the longest time, the Dittos just stared at each other as the situation sunk in. Fourarms cautiously stepped towards Ben. “Hey…”

“GET AWAY FROM ME!” Ben shoved Wildmutt away and started running for the city as fast as he could. 

 

“BEN!”

“BEEEEEEEEEEN!”

“Werf?”

“Um, pup? You’re not a Vulpimancer right now…”

The Dittos were searching high and low through the alleyways. Ben hadn’t run far from the beach, but now he was hiding and none of the others could locate him. They had to hurry, as it was going to get dark soon. If they stayed separated, they’d be stuck in this form indefinitely. And who knows what would happen?

Fourarms and Wildmutt had taken an alleyway together. Fourarms had to keep a close eye on the doglike personality, not wanting Wildmutt to get in trouble out on the streets. The Ditto walked on his hands and knees, sniffing everything. But without the enhanced senses of the Vulpimancer form, he really wasn’t very good at tracking…

All of a sudden, Wildmutt began yipping excitedly and jumping up and down. Fourarms spun around to investigate, hoping it wasn’t another cat. “What is it, boy?”

Wildmutt was gesturing to a large dumpster. Or rather, the big gap between the dumpster and the alley wall. Just the right size for a child – or a child-sized alien – to climb into and hide. Intrigued, Fourarms took a closer look.

Sure enough, at the far end of the gap was a small black-and-white creature, shivering as it tried to make itself as small as possible. 

Fourarms breathed a sigh of relief before turning to Wildmutt. “Goooood boy. Now round up the others…they shouldn’t be too far away.” Wildmutt yipped and started running off. Fourarms turned his attention back to Ben. “Hey, buddy.”

“Go’way.” Ben muttered just loud enough for Fourarms to hear.

Fourarms stayed at the entrance of the gap, not wanting to drag Ben out if he didn’t want to. “Come on. It’s getting dark, and Gwen and Max are going to get worried.”

“Why don’t YOU go?” Ben asked.

Fourarms blinked. “It doesn’t work like that, Ben. You should know that…”

“Why are you even talking to me?” Ben turned to face Fourarms. It was clear the kid had been crying since he hid behind the dumpster. “Why bother with a nobody like me? Apparently, I can’t handle being a hero, and I’m too crazy to be a kid! Gramps and Gwen and M-mom and Dad are gonna lock me up when they find out!” He started sobbing again.

Fourarms tried to reach out and comfort him. “You don’t know that! They love you-“

Ben turned away, going deeper into the gap. “But I’m not even ME half the time! And even when I am me, what am I? A big, selfish, stupid, scared screw-up! A dumb little kid who has to hide behind imaginary friends! Someone who doesn’t…” Ben gulped, touching the Omnitrix symbol on his chest. “Someone who…someone who doesn’t deserve this…”

Fourarms gulped, not liking where this was going. “That’s not true, Ben. You’re a hero…”

“No. _You_ are. You and Stinkfly and Upgrade and Heatblast…I’m just…I’m just Ben. And Ben is...” 

“And Ben is a good kid who wants to help others.” Fourarms soothed. “Your first instinct when you got that watch was to be a hero. Don’t lose sight of that.”

Ben rubbed his eyes. “But I…if I can’t handle it, if I made all of you to cope…then what right do I have to save anybody? What kind of hero is…is…crazy?”

Fourarms shook his head. “Don’t call yourself crazy, Ben. You have…a condition. OK. But it’s not as bad as you think it is. Besides, how do you know that anyone else would’ve responded differently to what happened to you?” Fourarms paused. “And if you do have a problem…what makes you think that running and hiding is going to fix anything?”

Ben didn’t respond for a minute. He turned away, apparently contemplating the cracks in the wall. 

Fourarms glanced up. The other Dittos were starting to arrive, Wildmutt in the lead. _2…3…4…5. That’s everybody._ Fourarms nodded. Turning back to Ben, he reached out his arm. “Come on, Ben. We have to go back and get some sleep. We’ll…figure something out in the morning, ‘K?”

Ben didn’t respond for a minute, staring at Fourarms with a mixture of angry incredulousness and nervous hope. Eventually, he sighed with resignation and took Fourarms’ hand. Smiling, his alternate personality gently pulled him out from behind the dumpster just as the other Dittos arrived. 

Ben looked up at his personalities. Fourarms was smiling comfortingly. Ripjaws was shaking nervously, looking at Ben like he expected him to start yelling again. Wildmutt was trying to jump up and lick Ben’s face, but Stinkfly was holding him back with all his strength. Upgrade still had no expression on his face whatsoever. Grey Matter rubbed his shoulder, a thoughtful look on his face. 

Ben took a deep breath. “So what happens now? To me?”

All of a sudden, the Omnitrix began blaring and flashing red. Grey Matter shrugged. “I…suppose that matter will have to wait until morning.”

Ben gasped. “WAIT!”

In a flash, the seven small aliens were replaced with one young human kid. For a second, he just stood there, teetering and staring blankly into space. Then his head fell into his hands.

 _I can’t tell anyone._ Ben thought to himself. _They’ll lock me up…they’ll take this watch away, and I won’t…I won’t be able to talk to the others…if I’m gonna fix this, I have to talk to them. I have to…_

Eventually, Ben shook his head clear and started walking back to the Rust Bucket. He barely noticed Gwen and Max asking about the game. The only answer he gave before falling into his bunk was,

“It was really, really weird.”

\---------

Gwen shook her head. “He should’ve told me…”

Fourarms just shrugged. “Maybe. But it’s too late to dwell on that. You know now…for what good it’ll do.”

Gwen sighed and began to think. “I remember that day…kinda. I’m pretty sure Ben ran off as soon as he could, said he wanted to pick up the game again.” Gwen looked Fourarms in the eyes. “He just wanted to talk to you again.”

Fourarms nodded. “Yeah. It took a while to calm him down once he saw us all again, but we eventually got talking. We…worked a few things out.”

“Like what?”

Fourarms looked back at the mirror. “First of all, we never took control of Ben when he was…well, Ben. Human. That way, he still was in control of his personal life. Though I think he would’ve liked us to handle Grandpa’s cooking once in a while…”

Despite herself, Gwen laughed at that.

Fourarms stopped chuckling. “Ben wanted us to go away…eventually, at any rate. He wanted to prove that he could handle being a hero by himself. So, we let him stay in control of the newer aliens. Wildvine, Upchuck, Blitzwolfer…”

Gwen blinked. “Blitzwolfer?”

“Oh…he didn’t tell you? He’d decided that ‘Benwolf’ was a bad name for that Yenaldooshi thing.” Fourarms hummed in recollection. “Though I don’t think he used that one very much. I think it scared him once…er, anyway. When he was those aliens, he was Ben. When he transformed into one of us…we…invariably took the reins.”

“What do you mean, invariably?”

Grey Matter groaned. “That is the incorrect word. You…I mean, Fourarms basically said that we _always_ took control. We didn’t. Once he had demonstrated that he could save lives as those newer aliens, we occasionally allowed him to use the other forms. It was…tricky, admittedly. The dissociation had gotten to a point where it was a reflexive action rather than any sort of conscious choice. Ben never seemed to realize that, thinking he could somehow _will_ us out of existence. Obviously, it didn’t work. Still, he was making progress right up until-“ Grey Matter suddenly stopped, the scowl on Ben’s face indicating that Stinkfly was in control. “That’s enough, Brainiac.” He growled.

Gwen would _never_ get used to those personality shifts. Steadying herself, she posed a question. “Ok, so everybody can talk when Ben turns Ditto. Got it. So, why not just turn Ditto and talk to him now?”

“W-We tried!” Ripjaws answered. “We tried! Right after…er…a couple d-days ago, we went D-D-Ditto. G-got everybody out, but Ben just…he…he just curled up into a ball and started shaking…I think he was…crying…he wouldn’t listen to any of us, I don’t think he even heard us! W-we tried for days, but it’s always the same! He just won’t talk!”

“So go Ditto now! Maybe he’ll listen to me!”

Stinkfly scoffed. “You? The cheap magic stealer who constantly tells him he’s an idiot? Why would he listen to you?” Stinkfly removed the chair from the doorway, clearing the way. “We told you everything, just like you asked. Now get out and let the field down, so we can leave before – “

Stinkfly ripped the door open to find Sandra Tennyson standing there. His scowl disintegrated into a look of pure shock and terror.

“…she…gets…back…”


	12. Ben

Time completely froze as the three members of the Tennyson family just stared at each other. Gwen clasped her hands over her mouth, not wanting to think about how much Sandra had heard. Sandra just looked down at her son, her expression completely unreadable. 

Ben – or rather, Ripjaws – shivered in the face of the woman before him. “S-s-s-s-s-s-s-Sandra…I m-me-mean muh-mom? Wh-I-we-er-adj-buh-I-h-how much d-did you h-hear?”

Taking a deep breath, Sandra just sighed. “Enough.” She said simply.

Any semblance of composure Ripjaws had completely vanished. His entire body shook as he tried to make himself as small as possible. The wide-eyed expression reminded Sandra and Gwen of someone who just saw a train bearing down on him with no escape in sight.

All at once, he changed. ‘Ben’ stood up straight. His expression became much more serious, although his eyes still looked at Sandra with fear and resignation. Sandra could tell this was the personality that had offered to join her at the police station. Diamondhead sighed. “Perhaps I should leave…”

“No.” Sandra responded, stepping into the room. Looking up at Gwen, she motioned her towards the door, her expression still inscrutable. “Would you excuse us, Gwen? I need to talk to…my son.” She said hesitantly. 

Gwen hesitated for a minute, but eventually got up and walked out of Ben’s room. She cast one last glance at her cousin. ‘Ben’ stared back at her, a look of complete resignation and hopelessness in his eyes. Gwen wondered what personality was in control right now. It honestly could’ve been any of them.

“Shut the door behind you.” Sandra intoned, her voice flat. Gwen obeyed, leaving Ben and Sandra Tennyson alone in the room together.

‘Ben’ tried to speak up, but Sandra silenced him with a slow wave of her hand. An unbelievably awkward silence settled in for the longest time. ‘Ben’ just stared up at Sandra, waiting for her to say something. Anything. Heck, the yelling and disowning that the personalities were sure would follow would’ve been better than this dead silence. 

Eventually, Sandra stepped towards the bed and just sat down, her head falling into her hands. Her fingers massaged her forehead, as if to stave off a painful headache. 

Ripjaws stuttered. “I-I-We’re s-sorry-“

“Don’t.” Sandra sighed. “Just…just be quiet. I need to think.” At least she wasn’t crying. She just seemed… overwhelmed. Nobody could blame her. 

There was another eternity of silence. In the background, both of them could hear Max and Carl in a heated argument. Even though neither of them could make out the words, they both knew what the fight was about. ‘Ben’ just wanted to leave, but Sandra had insisted he’d stay. But for what?

Eventually, Sandra looked up. “Can…can you let me talk to Ben?”

Ripjaws swallowed. “I don’t… we tried, but he won’t come out…”

“Well MAKE him-!” Sandra stopped herself from yelling at the boy before her. With a slight groan, she started rubbing her forehead again. “I’m…I’m sorry…there’s something I need to tell him, but it has to be _him_ …how does this work? How – how do you switch places with Ben?”

Fourarms answered. “Well…at first, when Ben got too scared or too stressed, one of us would step in and Ben would basically just fall asleep. Then…once we were finished and everything was okay, we’d all just step out, and Ben would come back....”

Sandra sighed. “OK…so…can you all step out right now? Let him back?”

“We did that already, but he doesn’t…”

“Just do it. I have to speak to him.” Sandra looked the boy in the eyes. There was no anger or accusing in her expression. Just a mother’s need to speak to her child. “Please?”

10 different expressions swam across Ben’s face. A hopeful smile, a confident smirk, an uninterested eyeroll, an expressionless face, an angry glare, a nervous lip-biting, a somber sigh, puppy-dog eyes, a cynical glance aside, a thoughtful ‘hmm’ – all within the space of a few seconds. Then, all those expressions faded away…

Replaced with a blank face, staring at nothing as if in shock. 

Sandra took a deep breath. “…Ben?”

The boy blinked and glanced up, but didn’t say anything. The second he saw Sandra, he immediately shrunk away. It looked like he would’ve walked away, but Sandra stopped him with a comforting hand on his shoulder. Ben looked at the hand, not understanding what it was doing there.

“Ben…” Sandra began, looking at her son with sympathetic eyes. “Listen to me. I know what happened…”

Ben’s head shot up, his eyes an expression of horror. “Wha-you-you-you know?! Oh god…” Tears welling up in his eyes, Ben tried to run away, but Sandra pulled him back into her embrace.

Sandra hugged her tearful son, gently rocking the hysterical child. After a second’s confused pause, Ben began sobbing onto his mother’s shoulder. Sandra just kept patting his back and assuring him. “It’s okay, Ben. It’s okay.”

“I’m sorry…” Ben sniffled. “I’m so sorry…”

\--------

The wind on his face, the scenery passing him by like it was standing still, the simple indescribable feeling of _speed_ , that was something Ben loved. That was something he had missed in the months those personalities had taken over.

He might’ve been in the body of the blue velociraptor, but it was _Ben_ , not XLR8, who was running down the streets of Bellwood at top speed. It was _Ben_ who was enjoying this form’s abilities. It was _Ben_ who racing home from school.

It had taken weeks…well, months if Ben really thought about it. Well, anyway it had taken a long time to convince XLR8 and the others to let Ben take their ‘bodies’ out for a spin. Ben groaned inwardly. _Their_ bodies. It was _his_ body, just changed up to be a superhero. Not _theirs._

Ben still couldn’t believe that the others even _existed._ Was he really so weak and pathetic that he had to make up imaginary friends to help him handle being a hero! He could handle it just fine! It was HIM who defeated Zombozo. It was HIM who stopped Animo back in Washington. It was HIM who beat Kevin…the first few times, anyway.

Then again, if he was honest with himself, Ben would admit that being a superhero was a lot harder then he’d ever thought it would be. The movies made it look so easy, but constantly staring death in the face was…terrifying. Even after he got over his fear of clowns, he’d had Zombozo nightmares for weeks. No less frightening was the thought that lives depended on him. What if he screwed up? Horrible things happened when he did something stupid. And he was…well, not that smart…and selfish, and…

 _No!_ Ben slapped himself upside the head. _Don’t think like that! I can’t think like that! It’s MY life, I DESERVE it, and I WILL have it back!_

With that in mind, Ben focused his attention on the route home. Taking the bus home would take half an hour, but with XLR8’s speed, he’d make it in 10 minutes. That meant more time to spend playing video games, watching movies, figuring out how to placate the ‘others’…

In no time at all, he was home. Letting himself inside, Ben decided to clean up his room for brownie points. Mom was at that flower thing, and Dad was still at work. Wouldn’t they be surprised! Chuckling, Ben quickly darted up to his room and nearly opened the door…

When he heard a racket coming from his parent’s room. Ben blinked. _Huh? Nobody’s supposed to be home yet. What’s going on?_ Confused and a little troubled, Ben listened a little more intently. Crying, yelling and…some noise he couldn’t describe…and it was coming from his parent’s room.

Looking down the hall, Ben saw that the door was cracked open. Ben wasn’t sure what to do. He’d walked in on his parents once, and he _really_ didn’t want to do it again. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was very wrong…he decided to look through the doorway before he did anything. Maybe it was nothing, maybe it wasn’t. But he had to make sure…

Ben quickly tiptoed over to the doorway and looked in.

His eyes went wide. There were three men in the room, and none of them were Carl. They were all wearing black clothes, and what looked like ski masks. Two of them had baseball bats in hand. The third one….the third one was…he was on his parents bed…and…

 _HE’S HURTING MOM!_

With that mental scream, Ben was ready to charge into the room and beat these burglars to a pulp…

But the Omnitrix had chosen that exact moment to run out of charge. With a loud red flash, Ben was a little kid again.

“What wassat?” One of the burglars asked.

 _NO! NOT NOW! ANYTIME BUT NOW!_

Before Ben could move from where he was or do anything else, two of the burglars burst through the door. For a second, they just looked down at Ben like he was nothing.

Desperately fiddling with his watch, Ben glared up at the intruders. “Get away from my-“

He didn’t have time to finish his sentence before the bat came down on his head.

 

_Wake up!_

_Wake up, Ben!_

_WAKE UP!_

Ben’s eyes shot open. He tried to get himself up, but his hands would only move so much. A rattling noise. Cold metal on the wrists…Handcuffs! Ben blinked the darkness and stars out of his eyes and looked up. He was in the basement, the handcuffs secured to the heating pipe. There was still a pain in his forehead…the bat was harder than it looked…MOM!

With a strength he didn’t know he possessed, Ben snapped the flimsy handcuffs and got back on his feet. Without bothering to check if his watch was recharged, Ben tore up the stairway back upstairs. He could still stop them! He could still save her!

But when he reached his parent’s room, the three burglars were gone. Sandra was still there. 

She was lying on her bed, her shaking body curled into a ball. Her hair was dripping wet, like she’d just gotten out of the shower and hadn’t dried herself off. Her face was buried into the pillow, but Ben could hear her hiccupping sobs. Boy, he could hear them. He would never be able to forget the sound.

_You’re too late._

Ben was paralyzed. He just stood there, staring at the broken wreck that was his mother. What could he possibly say to her? What could he possibly do? Those…those thugs were long gone. He was too late.

_You couldn’t save her. You couldn’t save your own mother._

Eventually, the sobs became quieter and quieter. Ben guessed that she had fallen asleep. Mechanically, he walked up to her bedside. The only thing he could do was drape a bedsheet over his mother, hopefully keeping her warm while she rested.

_Too little, too late._

Ben stumbed out of the room, trying to go somewhere else. Anywhere else. Anywhere but here. 

_You’re pathetic. You think you can call yourself a hero when you can’t even save your own mother from three schmucks with baseball bats? You had a chance to save her, to stop them, and you blew it!_

Ben stumbled, falling onto the floor. He clutched his head, trying to block out the voice ringing through his head. It didn’t belong to any of his other personalities. They never talked like this. This was HIS voice. Ben’s voice.

_You worthless, pathetic, idiotic, selfish, WEAKLING! You’re not a hero! You never were a hero! You screw up at everything! Kevin, the MegaWhatts, Rojo, and now your own MOTHER!_

Ben started sniffling, crying. “I’m sorry…I’m sorry…”

_It doesn’t matter how sorry you are! She’ll never forgive you for this! Nobody will! Not Dad, not Gwen, not Grandpa! Not even the others will forgive you!_

The boy started shivering, looking at nothing with wide eyes. Everything around him started to fade away. “Nuh-never forgive me…” he mumbled, tears dripping from his eyes.

_The others. THEY’RE the heroes. THEY save the day. THEY know what to do every time something goes wrong. Every time YOU screw up. They don’t fail like you do. They save lives, help others, and you have the gall to demand that they go away so YOU can pretend to be a hero. Like you have the right to be anything when the truth is. You. Are. Nothing._

“Nothing…” Ben agreed with himself, as everything around him faded into darkness. All he could hear was his mother’s sobs.

_You’re not a hero. You let her down. You can’t face them. You can’t do anything right. You’re stupid and selfish and weak. Leave everything to the REAL heroes._

“I’m sorry…” Ben cried himself into the blackness. “I’m sorry…I’m sorry…” he repeated, his voice becoming quieter and quieter until it was completely silent.

\---

“I’m sorry…I’m sorry…” Ben kept babbling. “I’m such…such a weak…”

“It’s okay, Ben. It’s okay.” Sandra reassured him, keeping her arms around her son. “It’s okay.”

Ben kept sobbing into Sandra’s shoulder, shaking like a leaf. “I should’ve s-saved you, I should’ve done something else…I should’ve…I should’ve…”

“Ben…it wasn’t your fault. There was…”

“Don’t…don’t say there was nothing I could’ve done. I hate it when people say that. There’s …there’s always something I could’ve done. If I was faster, if I…I…If I’d done something else…instead, I got knocked out and…and you…”

Sandra realized what she needed to say. Ben was too guilty to think that this mess was anything but his fault. There was only one thing she could do. Taking a deep breath, tears welling up in her eyes, she spoke.

“I forgive you.”

Ben cried even harder, tightening his grip on Sandra. For the longest time, the two of them just sat there hugging each other, crying their tears out. 

It felt like hours before Ben had regained enough composure to speak again. Gently breaking away from the embrace, he rubbed the last of his tears away and regained his breath. “I…I…so…I can’t believe I…how long was I…”

“A week.” Sandra answered. “I…think. One of the…well, he said that they all tried to talk to you, but you wouldn’t respond.”

“Y-yeah, I think I heard-“ Ben’s eyes suddenly went wide. “Oh no. You know about…them...?”

Sandra just nodded. 

Ben groaned, his head falling into his hands. “Of course you know. Just what you needed right now, right? A crazy son.”

Sandra placed her hand on Ben’s shoulder, comforting him. “It’s okay, Ben. You’re my son, and I love you. Nothing will ever change that. Nothing. You understand me?”

Ben didn’t respond for a minute. Eventually, he lifted his head up to look Sandra in the eyes. His eyes looked at Sandra, full of both hope and skepticism. 

Sandra smiled reassuringly. “I mean it, Ben. But…you have to promise me something.”

“Anything.” Ben nodded.

Sandra looked her son straight in the eye. “You have to promise me you won’t run away. You can’t run and hide from everything. We’ll get through all this, together. Got it?”

After a moment’s hesitation, Ben nodded. “Got it, mom. I’m not going anywhere.” Ben glanced at the door. The yelling had stopped, but the silence was no less troubling. “But…what about dad?”

“He’s just…upset. We all are. I’ll talk to him, I promise. It won’t be so bad.”

Ben gulped. “I…hope so. I really do.”

Sandra ruffled her son’s hair, just like she used to do. “Get some sleep, Ben. We’ll sort this all out in the morning. Ok?”

Ben finally managed to smile. “Ok.”

Sandra slowly got up and started walking out the door. _I’ll talk to Gwen about that shield. Ben’s at his limit, and we can’t take any chances…_ She thought to herself. 

“So what happens now?”

Sandra turned around. Ben’s entire posture had changed…he was sitting up straight, his arms at his side. His expression was…harsh, but scared at the same time. His eyes looked at Sandra hard, his mouth set in a straight line. Sandra could tell that this was one of the other personalities. 

Before she could ask which one, his posture changed again. Shrinking away and averting his eyes, Ripjaws began stuttering. “T-To the rest of us? Wh-what’ll happen to the r-rest of us?” Ripjaws clarified.

Sandra sighed. She didn’t have an answer for the other personalities. She had never dealt with anything like this before. Then again, she had never dealt with her son being a superhero before. “I…I don’t know. I’ll have to figure it out in the morning.” Sandra rubbed her forehead, trying to ease her headache. She eventually looked up and smiled. “ _We_ will figure this out. But in the morning. Okay?”

Stinkfly and Ripjaws seemed satisfied with that. Ben blinked himself back into consciousness, his body wobbling as if he’d suffered a second of lightheadedness. Glancing up at Sandra, he bit his lip as what had just happened sunk in. This was not going to be easy.

Sandra managed to smile again. “It’ll be okay, Ben. I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...And that's the end...sort of.

**Author's Note:**

> OK, here's my first story for this site. Please please PLEASE comment on it, I want to know how to improve if I ever rewrite this story.


End file.
